The Raven
by Bree Mcgregor
Summary: Adopt a Snape: Hermione finds a hurt bird and takes it in. The men at Hogwarts are not happy about it... and what about Snape gone Missing?
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer : I don't own it, it's all JKR's, I only do this for fun, so don't sue me.

The Raven By: Bree McGregor

Chapter 1

He flew as fast and as far as he could, letting the wind be his ally. The black raven twisted and turned, going with and against the air currents, desperately dodging flashes of green and red light. His sensitive feathers could feel even the slightest changing of the air current.

He knew his situation was not good; if the wind took him away from his target, he was doomed. There was no room for luck now. He knew there was only one place he would feel safe. The raven closed his eyes and concentrated. He could feel his feathers move with the swirling wind, but just before he was completely home free he was hit with a searing pain that raged though his small body. He managed only one coherent thought — 'Home' — before darkness overtook him…

Ron, Harry, and Hermione were walking in the snow as they returned to Hogwarts from a day trip to Hogsmeade. Their arms were full of bags from their Christmas shopping. Ron and Harry were talking about the new broom they had just seen displayed at the Hogsmeade Quidditch shop, the new Silver Firebolt. Hermione was a few paces in front of them.

Christmas was only a few short weeks away. Now in their seventh and final year at Hogwarts, the "dream team" — as most of the school was fond of calling them — did not feel as happy and free as they once did. Lord Voldemort was still out there somewhere. The trio of friends knew the war was gaining momentum, not only because of the ever increasing reports of Death Eater attacks, but because of the tension they felt from everyone around them, including their teachers. That tension was growing thicker as the days passed, becoming almost a tangible thing with a life of its own.

Hermione knew the boys used Quidditch as an escape from the stress, just as she dove head-first into her studies. For once, her books weren't enough help for her: she was still nervous and exhausted from all the talk of war.

A black spot on the snow caught her attention. It was right by the front gates of Hogwarts, and upon closer inspection she noticed black feathers — the "black spot" was some sort of bird. She knelt down to see if the poor thing was still alive. Ron and Harry stood behind her to see what caught her attention. She slowly reached to touch the bird.

"Be careful, Hermione," said Harry. "If it's alive, it may attack you. Wild animals and birds do that when they're hurt."

"Good point, Harry," she replied as she pulled out her wand. She cast a regenerative spell she learned from Madam Pomfrey over the summer, when she took a mini medi-witch course.

Dumbledore believed that all students who were capable should take a course on emergency healing, to prepare for the war. "The more we know, the more we prepare, the less casualties we should have…" the Headmaster had advised. Hermione took note of the word "should" as in "the less casualties we SHOULD have." Still, even though there were no guarantees, she did not regret having taken the course, even if it was just to heal this bird.

The regenerative spell revealed that the bird was alive, though just barely, but that he had some internal wounds. She removed an ultra soft, light green baby blanket that she had just bought for her cousin's newborn for Christmas. 'Oh well, the baby probably has more then enough blankets,' she thought. She put a warming spell on the blanket before using it to slowly, carefully pick up the wounded bird. The bird gave a weak squawk and allowed itself to be lifted into the fuzzy warmth and gentle hands.

"Is Hagrid back yet?" she asked the two boys.

"No, Hagrid has been sent on an assignment by Dumbledore for whatever reason and has not returned yet." They were not full members of the Order yet, so they did not have access to a lot of information like where Hagrid went or when he was likely to return.

"Well, I guess I'll take the bird to Madam Pomfrey. I know she doesn't normally work on animals, but I can try to help it myself if all else fails." With that, Hermione tucked the bird under her warm winter cloak, holding the wounded animal in the crook of her arm as the trio headed quietly toward the castle. Ron and Harry followed close behind her, carrying her shopping bags.

When they reached the castle's main hall, Professor McGonagall was there to welcome back the students. Professor Dumbledore stood beside her, smiling at his students as they returned, though his smile didn't quite reach his eyes.

"Professors," called Hermione. "Do you know when Hagrid will return?"

"I'm afraid not, Miss Granger," replied Professor McGonagall.

"Then is Madam Pomfrey in?" Hermione spoke softer as she came nearer to them.

"Are you hurt, child?" Dumbledore asked, noticing how she held her arm.

"Not me, sir." Hermione pulled back her cloak to reveal the extremely injured bird. Dumbledore and McGonagall exchanged worried glances.

"Yes, I see. Follow me, Miss Granger. Boys, would you be so kind as to take her bags to her Head Girl's room?"

"Um, just take them to Gryffindor Tower. I'll pick them up later," Hermione told her friends. She smiled to take the sting out of her words.

Ron's eyes narrowed at her as they flashed with anger. Harry pulled Ron away, as the redhead snapped that they would be in the Gryffindor Common Room. Ron was upset with Hermione because it was already near Christmas, and he still hadn't been invited to Hermione's room or even seen it. He was getting quite angry with her, wondering what she was hiding.

In truth, Hermione didn't want to be alone with Ron, let alone have him set foot in her private sanctuary. She liked Ron, but he wanted something more than she did. It was true that she had a big crush on Ron for the first few years they knew each other, but after a time it turned to just friendship. It was different with Harry, who had always been like her brother; she could tell him anything.

While Professor McGonagall remained in the main hall to watch for other returning students, Dumbledore led Hermione to Madam Pomfrey.

"Albus, I do not treat animals. That's Hagrid job!" the medi-witch declared when she saw that her patient was an animal and not a human.

"Hagrid is not here. You must help this bird," the Headmaster insisted

"Albus!" she started again, but he held up his hand and whispered something in her ear.

As Dumbledore tried to talk sense into the medi-witch, Hermione placed the bird on a small high table and unwrapped him from the baby blanket. It was then she noticed his feathers were sticking up in all different angles, and one wing was bent in an unnatural way. She looked deep into the bird's black eyes as they returned her gaze.

Even as a child, Hermione had always had a way with animals; after books, animals were her favorite interest. She remembered forming a special animal "friendship" when she was ten years old. It was during the time of year when the sun didn't come up until she was halfway to school, and she was walking in the dark to the bus stop to wait for her school bus. On this particular morning, she heard the sound of heavy padded paws hitting the ground in a run. Looking up, she saw a huge black dog running straight for her.

She knew if she showed any fear, the dog would most likely attack. So she slightly bent down, clapped her hands, and called out in a friendly voice, "Here, boy! That's a good boy!" The dog kept running toward her, but then his tail started wagging and it gave a happy bark. She played with the dog for a few moments, then continued to her bus stop. The dog followed her and sat with her until the bus came. They did this every morning for the rest of the year. The next year, she attended Hogwarts.

Hermione was lost in the bird's little black eyes. It seemed like he wanted to tell her something but she was missing the message.

"Poppy, please," whispered Dumbledore.

"But… but…"

"He's an Animagus. At least see if he can transform before treating him."

"Him?" she asked, startled.

"Yes, Poppy — it's Severus." The Headmaster's voice softened lower than a whisper. "He's an unregistered Animagus. Now with you knowing that, it only makes four people who know, and that's also counting himself."

Poppy nodded at him, then looked over at Hermione. The girl was looking deep into the bird's eyes as she stroked his head.

"Albus?" Poppy whispered.

"Yes, I see."

"Fine!" the medi-witch said, exasperated. "I'll see what I can do."

A/N I had my Beta help we with fixing a few things Thank you June your the best!


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own HP or anything in it. That privilege goes to JKR.

The Raven

By: Bree McGregor

Chapter 2

Severus Snape was cold, very cold…

'Well, I'm not in hell,' was his first coherent thought, as morbid as it was. He struggled to open one eye. He saw that he was surrounded by snow, and for the life of him, he couldn't remember where he was. His mind was too foggy, and his body was in excruciating pain. He tried to move but couldn't. The last thing he remembered was dodging curses from Pettigrew.

'I'm lucky he's a lousy shot!' he thought. But then again, Pettigrew came close enough to hurt him this badly. Snape knew he was still alive, for the pain was too severe for him to be dead. He laid there for a long time, listening to the students returning from their trip to Hogsmeade, wishing someone would notice him.

The cold was becoming too much. He felt his wings stiffen and the blood from his wounds turn to ice.

'So this is how it ends...' he thought, as he again succumbed to his morbid reflections. 'It's not by fighting the Dark Lord, or saving bloody Harry Potter. No salvation, no redemption... this is how it ends.'

As he laid there on the ground in his Animagus form, waiting for the end to come, he felt a soft warm glow of a spell wash over him. Slowly, his mind began coming back to consciousness, as he felt a soft warm fabric surround him and gently lift him out of the freezing snow. He tried to speak even though he was still a bird; he wanted the person to know he was still alive. The sound he made was weak and he hated to sound like that, so he didn't make it again.

Then he heard her voice.

"Is Hagrid back yet?"

"No," came two muffled male voices.

'Oh, this is just great! Saved by the dream team… just put me back now! Let me die alone and with dignity!' thought Snape.

He felt darkness again, but it was not like the last time; now he could feel and hear, but not see. He thought she must have tucked him inside of her cloak to keep him warm. He could feel her graceful steps as she walked though the snow, and was grateful for the welcoming warmth of the blanket. He was glad she was thoughtful enough to put a warming spell on it. He liked the softness of her body, and knew he was nestled against the underside of one of her breasts.

'Yes, very nice and soft indeed!' he thought. 'And her scent — she smells like cinnamon and spices, like the smell on a cold fall day or Halloween.' He always loved Halloween; it was the only holiday he really liked.

Then Snape started to hear other muffled voices. A chill moved through his body when she pulled back her cloak. He clearly heard the anger in Mr. Weasley's voice, but couldn't quite hear what they were saying; the Potions Master got the impression the boy's angry words were directed at Miss Granger. Snape would have to deal with that later.

Covered again, he felt the quick graceful steps that took him to the hospital wing. He heard Poppy refuse to treat him, and was about to cry out in protest, when Miss Granger put him down on a small high table.

He looked into her eyes and was amazed at what he saw. There was no arrogance, no selfishness, no fear or anger — only deep compassion. All her carefully created walls and masks were gone. He was seeing the true Hermione Granger. Then the realization hit him, that her walls were as strong and high as his own. Little Miss Know-It-All was just a facade! It was a shield from the cruelties of life, just as the Bastard Greasy Git was his own facade.

He felt her fingers stroke his feathered head as she spoke calmly to him, "Hello there… don't worry, we'll have you up and flying again in no time."

Her smile was as genuine as her eyes; he felt his walls come crashing down, looking at her as openly as she was looking at him. He felt Poppy examine him. He knew the medi-witch would eventually agree; no one refused Albus Dumbledore! Snape didn't pay Poppy much attention; he was too busy being caught up in those liquid cinnamon eyes.

That blissful state lasted until Poppy pulled a primary feather and pain shot through him, making him squeak loudly. Typically, he wouldn't have made a sound but Poppy's move caught him by surprise, and that girl's cinnamon eyes had everything to do with it!

'Okay,' he thought. 'I will NOT look at her again!' He flapped his wings angrily, trying his best to look anywhere else.

"Shhh..." He heard her coo softly to him, as she calmly stroked his head, making him look at her again.

'I'M DOOMED,' he thought as he was caught once again in her entrancing eyes.

"Well, that's the best I can do. Time will heal the rest," Poppy said to Dumbledore after about forty-five minutes of spell casting.

Severus broke eye contact with the girl and looked over at his two colleagues. Albus met his gaze.

"How long with that take?" the Headmaster asked Poppy.

"I don't know. I don't treat animals, but I do know that the joint in his right wing is severely damaged. He must NOT fly or do anything else that will hurt or deform the wing, or there will be permanent damage to it."

"SQUEAK!" yelled the bird.

Albus looked over at Hermione. "Miss Granger, would you be so kind as to fetch Professor McGonagall and bring her here?"

"Of course. Will the bird be okay?" she asked as she headed toward the door.

"Oh, I'm sure he will be just fine." Albus waited until the young woman left before he turned to the raven. "Severus?"

The bird bowed his head to the Headmaster.

"Thank Merlin you're alive. You heard Poppy?"

Again another bow, but this time it was slower, as if he didn't want to admit it.

"So you know you must stay in this form until you are completely healed. Now, where to put you?" Albus paced a bit as he thought, then stopped and looked hopefully at Poppy.

"Oh no, Albus!" objected the medi-witch. "I'm not good with animals, even Animagi."

Dumbledore sighed heavily. "Well, before Miss Granger returns, I need some information, Severus."

The bird stood straighter, as the man always would when he was about to give one of his spy reports. This made Dumbledore smile a bit; it was good to know that the Potions Master was still in there.

"I take it the meeting did not go well."

The bird nodded, and started pacing back and forth on the table.

"Please don't tell me that you have been found out."

The bird stopped his pacing and gave Dumbledore a blatant stare, then slowly nodded his head.

Dumbledore sighed heavily. "Do they know you're an Animagus?"

The bird rocked back and forth, from one foot to the other.

"Not sure, hmmm… this is not good... Does Lord Voldemort know?" Dumbledore asked, ignoring the gasp that came from Madam Pomfrey on his use of Voldemort's name.

The bird shook his feathers as a negative.

"Fine, I'll have some of the others get back and find out what they can. But in the meantime we need to put you somewhere safe to be looked after."

The bird gave him another blatant stare.

Just then, Professor McGonagall came into the hospital wing followed by Hermione. Dumbledore's eyes began to twinkle insanely. 'Why not keep him hidden in plain view?' he thought.

"Miss Granger!" he called out excitedly.

"Yes, Professor?" She knew something was up; she recognized the voice change.

"Since you have bonded so well with this poor unfortunate bird," Albus said as he took her hands in his, ignoring the evil glare the bird in question was giving him. "Would you mind adopting him, until he is well enough to fly?"

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A/N thanks again June beta extraordinaire!


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own HP or anything in it. That privilege goes to JKR.

The Raven

By: Bree McGregor

Chapter 3

Hermione was speechless. She would love to take him in, but…

"Um… well, Professor, the problem is that I have a cat; and cats eat birds, especially wounded ones."

"Your cat is part Kneazle, is it not?" Dumbledore asked kindly.

"Yes, sir, he is."

"Well, then," he said, smiling greatly. "There is no problem. I know you will take good care of him." He tried to pick up the raven himself, but the bird refused. The animal just stayed on the table, glaring at the Headmaster.

"My, what a stubborn fellow you are," Albus said, his eyes twinkling merrily. "Well, if you do not wish to stay with Miss Granger, then the only other place for you would be the Owlery."

The bird hung his head and slowly walked onto Dumbledore's hand. The Headmaster then put him into Hermione's hand.

"Now, off you go, Hermione," Albus said kindly as he gave her a gentle push toward the door.

She walked slowly, as not to disturb the bird. When she got to the hospital door, she thought of something. "Professor Dumbledore, what does he eat?"

He turned from his conversation with McGonagall and Pomfrey. "Don't worry, my dear. I will have a house-elf bring him something." With that, the Headmaster returned to his conversation.

Three days later, Snape was not pleased! He was perched on the window sill, as he watched Miss Granger, Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley walk down toward Hagrid's hut for their Care of Magical Creatures class. Unfortunately, the half-giant had not yet returned.

The first thing Hermione had done when she brought him to her room, was to introduce him to Crookshanks. Crookshanks was a monster of a cat, and the two had a staring contest right off the bat! The contest was to determine who ruled the territory of the Head Girl's room. No human alive, except for Dumbledore and the Dark Lord, could ever win a staring contest with Snape. But this was no ordinary cat; he was also part Kneazle.

Crookshanks didn't like sharing his space or his human with anyone else, but he also knew this was no bird… how could she be fooled by it? It didn't even smell like a bird!

"Don't be like that, Crooks," Hermione said as she picked up the cat and sat on the bed, petting him. Neither the bird nor the cat broke eye contact. "It's only temporary. Besides, you were here first; but you mustn't hurt him or rough-house. He's hurt, and if anything happens to him, I'll turn you into a dog."

The cat gave her a wicked look as if to say, 'You wouldn't dare!'

After that, the two came to terms with each other. Crookshanks ruled, but only so far; he was there first, after all. The cat knew that the bird-thing had sharp claws and a beak that could pull his tail; Crookshanks had learned this the hard way, like the time he tried to steal the bird's dinner, while Hermione was gone.

The second thing Hermione did on that first day was decide on giving him a name. She liked the poem by Edgar Allan Poe, called amazingly enough "The Raven," but since this bird wasn't a girl, the name of Poe's "rare and radiant maiden" Lenore wouldn't work. So she decided to call him Mr. Mistoffelees, from a poem from T.S. Elliot — "Was there ever / A Cat so clever/ As Magical Mr. Mistoffelees!" (A/N: Yes I know its a cat's name but it just fit so well... please just go with it)

The third thing Hermione did for the raven was to create a walkway for him. She had levitated her desk so it overlapped the window sill, and all he had to do was to take a small hop to get there. Then she moved the dresser between one window and the other, so he could look out from both windows.

All in all, he thought that it was very kind of her. Still, the fact remained: he had been stuck in this room for three days now, with no company but a monstrous cat. Worst of all, the cat seemed to take extreme pleasure in flaunting the fact he was free to come and go as he pleased.

Snape wasn't in a good mood when Hermione came back to the room; he couldn't even read! The only things he could do were to sleep, eat, and look out the window. That may be good enough for a cat, but Snape wasn't a cat and he hated being cooped up.

She threw her bag onto the bed and sat down heavily; she looked very tired.

"Why can't they accept me!" she called to no one, falling back onto the bed with her legs still hanging over the edge.

He had seen her unguarded a few times these past three days, observing her vulnerability and weaknesses. At first he thought he could use the knowledge as blackmail just in case she started her know-it-all attitude again after he returned to human form. Today, he started to realize that this attitude was a false perception, and he doubted if he would ever use this knowledge against her.

"Ahhhhh!" she exclaimed, as she hit the bed with her fist. "God, how I HATE them sometimes!"

Then in a whiny voice as if she was mimicking someone else's, she said, "Why are you studying, Hermione? Why don't you do something fun, Hermione? Why don't you have a boyfriend, Hermione? Why are you such a know-it-all, Hermione?"

Snape was shocked at the animosity in her voice toward herself. He never thought she hated herself so much. This was quite a new concept, and he looked at the girl with new eyes.

"Why are you still a virgin, Hermione?" this confession was said softly. He could tell that no one had actually said it, but he knew that it was the root of her self-hatred. What he couldn't understand was why.

He wasn't sure what upset him more, the confession or the silent tears that rolled down her face. He couldn't believe she was an innocent; she was always surrounded by boys — not only Potter and Weasley, but others too, and not all from her own house.

"All I am is a brain… that's all they see! BUT it's better than only seeing the body, and not one of them can hold an intelligent conversation to save their lives!"

'Oh, no,' thought Snape. 'she's mad now!'

"Well, off to do my rounds, no time to sit feeling sorry for myself." She whipped the tears away and took a deep breath, and the little "Miss Perfect" mask was firmly in place again.

She was about to leave when the raven started squawking madly. "What's wrong, Mr. Mistoffelees?"

Hermione looked deep into his eyes; he looked back without blinking. She did that whenever she tried to understand what he needed. It worked quite well.

"Are you sick of this room, boy? Do you want to come on my rounds with me?"

"Squawk!"

"Hmm, you would have to ride on my shoulder, but then you would get caught up in my hair…" She looked at herself in the mirror and took out her wand, charming her hair into a long French braid that reached halfway down her back.

"There now! No hair pulling, if you please." She picked him up and placed him gently on her right shoulder.

They walked on her normal route as she quickly learned his movements and what they meant. He had a talent for finding wayward lovers out after curfew.

Mr. Mistoffelees would tap his beak on her head softly, then look in the direction of where the curfew-breakers were. A soft grip from his right claw meant right door or right turn; left meant left. When he gripped her shoulder softly, it meant no big deal. When he put pressure on her, it meant something big was going on; the harder the squeeze, the bigger the trouble. She found out that his claws were very sharp after the first few minutes, and she conjured up a soft pad that sat under her shirt, so his claws wouldn't dig into her skin.

Hermione grew accustomed to relying on his instincts; after all, animals could hear and see far more clearly than humans.

Over the next week and a half, they became a formidable pair. She had even asked if she could bring him into class. Some of her professors agreed, but there were a few who had to be cajoled by Dumbledore, who thought it was a marvelous idea. In time, the girl and her raven became inseparable.

A/N: Thanks again June beta extraordinaire!


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own HP or anything in it. That privilege goes to JKR.

The Raven

By: Bree McGregor

A/N: To everyone who reviewed: Thank you Thank you Thank you! I'm so glad that you like the story! I didn't want to make him a cat… been done far too many times. I do love cats though, except my own LOL he's a spoiled little brat! And no, his name isn't Mr. Mistoffelees! LOL ;)

Chapter 4

Christmas had come and gone. Hermione had chosen to stay at Hogwarts over the holidays, so that the bird would have company. Ron thought she would miss being with her friends, so he expected her to welcome him after the break. He was wrong. Classes had resumed a week ago. Ron was fuming... Hermione was ignoring him again! She was spending too much time with that stupid bird! She needed to spend more time with her friends… well, mainly with HIM!

Last summer, she stayed at the Burrow and all was right with the world. He felt they had started to grow closer, until one day he had gotten the courage to finally kiss her. It was awkward, but he enjoyed it. She seemed to enjoy the kiss as well but then she started to act funny, ignoring him once they got back to Hogwarts.

He even cornered Ginny once to ask what happened to Hermione, but Ginny turned red and ran. Ever since, Hermione avoided the subject of their relationship. If he pushed her, she would start up with all the things she hated about him, and would threaten to tell George and Fred that he had taken one of their "Naughty by Wizardry" books.

These books were just plain parchment that the twins had charmed together like a book, much like a Muggle notebook. The books had a lot of their original ideas, and experiments that they had put on hold. If the twins ever found out Ron took one of the books, his life would mean nothing, for he would be dead by the time he could even form the first word of self-defense, not that there really was any.

This is why Ron was now angry at her, perhaps angrier than he had ever been before in his life. He was going to get some answers tonight! Standing outside of the Head Girl's room, he lifted his hand and pounded on the door three times.

Hermione was spending a quiet night in her room for once. She had noticed that Ron was shooting her increasingly darker looks each day. She did not want to have a confrontation with him; she felt that it could end their friendship forever.

Just thinking of Ron made her sigh deeply, but she didn't want to think of him so she went back to her book, "Potions and Problems." She really didn't understand why, but reading the book aloud seemed to keep Mr. Mistoffelees entertained. It was like he almost understood her, but then again, he had shown an amazing amount of intelligence for a bird. So, happily, she continued reading aloud to him.

"... This problem will occur if the Asphodel was improperly handled, meaning it was stored where sunlight or other weather conditions could affect it, or if it has been sitting too long. This potion calls for the freshest Asphodel possible. If the asphodel is corrupt in any way, the effects would cause three explosions simultaneously."

'Bang! Bang! Bang!'

Mr. Mistoffelees squawked at the loud banging, for he was so caught up in listening to Hermione read the new potions book. It was not as advanced as most of the material the Potions Master read, but it was a good book, just released by an old colleague of his. He felt it was about time someone wrote a book on the dangers of potion-making and children!

Suppressing a frustrated scream, Hermione put down the book and went to open her door.

She should have expected it — really, she should have — but she didn't, so she just stood there staring at an enraged Ron. He looked like he was about to yell until he was blue in the face, but instead he took a deep breath and amazingly spoke calmly.

"Hey, can I come in? We have to talk."

"Can we talk later, Ron? I'm in the middle of something." She really didn't want to be alone with him in her bedroom.

Ron turned as red as his hair and stormed past her into her room.

"NO! Hermione, we are going to talk about this NOW!"

"What's with you, Ron?"

"W-wh-what's with me?" he yelled. "Last summer everything was fine, then as soon as we got back to Hogwarts, you will have nothing to do with me! WHY?"

"Things were not 'fine' over the summer Ron," she said softly. Taking a deep breath, she decided to take the plunge and tell him. "All we did was kiss once, Ron, and I'm sorry I didn't feel anything. I tried to tell you before I left but you kept talking over me; you wouldn't hear a thing I had to say!" Her anger was getting worked slowly, but it was building in strength. "Just like always, Ron! You don't want me for me… hell, you didn't even know I was a girl until you accidentally walked in on me when I was in the shower!"

Ron had the grace to blush but, truth be told, he was blushing more from the memory of her wonderfully naked body, than the remembered embarrassment. His hormones went into overdrive that day, and he started to pursue Hermione with a vengeance. All he could think about was getting her in his bed and getting to touch the soft skin he saw that day; but the stronger he pursued her, the faster she backed away.

Snape watched all this unfold before him. He had learned bits and pieces from Hermione when she talked to herself about her problems. It seemed, other than Miss Weasley, that she didn't have any very close female friends. He understood why she didn't want to be alone in her room — such an intimate surrounding — with a boy she had no interest in personally, but Snape knew the boy had an interest in her.

"I'm sorry I didn't notice you before, 'Mione, but now that I do you seem to be not interested in me!"

"I had a crush on you for a long time but I never wanted to ruin our friendship, so I kept it to myself. Then when you kissed me, I realized that I didn't quite like you as much as I once thought I did. I'm sorry Ron, I really am." She bowed her head, not wanting to look up at him, and she didn't see when he advanced on her stealthily.

He was an athlete; his body was toned by hours of Quidditch practice, and he even had some grace about him.

Snape saw him approach Hermione and squawked a warning to her. Hermione's head shot up when she noticed that Ron was so close to her. The look of hatred that Ron had been directing at her was now directed at the raven sitting on her desk.

"I hate that bloody bird!" the boy yelled, advancing on it. "You should have left it to die in the snow!"

"Ron, how can you say that!"

"Easy! That bird should be by all rights dead! So I'm just going to make things right again."

Ron reached for the bird. The raven tried to dodge his grasp, as he scraped and picked at the boy's hands with his claws and beak. Ron wasn't going to let this bird stop him; he couldn't take his anger out on Hermione, but he could take it out on the bird.

"Ron, stop!" she yelled, trying to get his attention from the bird before he killed it.

"Why Hermione? Did you fall in love with a bird?"

"I love the bird, yes; and to set the record straight, I'm NOT in love with anyone!"

Ron turned back toward her again and grabbed her shoulders tightly.

"Ron, stop! You're hurting me!"

"No more then you've hurt me, Hermione. All the signs were there! You led me on for years and now that I want you, you refuse me! I DON'T THINK SO!"

Hermione looked into his eyes; this was not Ron the boy she grew up with. This was another Ron — someone she didn't like at all, someone she was frightened of.

His lips were on hers; it felt worse then the first time. He was desperate, demanding; and the kiss spoke of total dominance! Thinking back, she knew why she kept away from him. That kiss he gave her this summer was a hint of what he was doing now. She felt his tongue against her closed mouth and she clamped down her lips, refusing him entrance.

He bit her lip hard, so when she gasped in pain his tongue shot into her mouth, dominating it. Her small hands were trying to hit him and push him away from her, but his grip was too tight. She felt him pulling her toward her bed. She started to panic and kicked at him, doing anything to get him away from her. She knew this wasn't like Ron! If he would just calm down and get a hold of himself, he would see this was wrong.

Ron pulled away from her, suddenly screaming. The raven was in his hair, pulling it out, clawing at anything he could reach!

Snape had to get him away from Hermione. He would look back at this later and think that it was probably one of the bravest and stupidest things he had ever done.

Ron turned on the raven and hit it with his fist as hard as he would have hit a bludger! The bird went flying across the room until he hit the far wall and slipped down to the floor unconscious.

"NO!" Hermione ran to the bird to make sure he was still alive.

"Hermione, it's just a bloody bird! Will you choose a bird over me!"

Hermione sighed in relief that the raven was still alive — terribly hurt, but alive. She slowly stood up, took out her wand, and without hesitation hexed Ron. "Petrificus Totalus."

She picked up the bird, stepped over Ron as if he was nothing but a pile of dirty laundry, and walked out the door.

On her way to the hospital wing, Hermione ran into Professors McGonagall and Dumbledore. They noticed that her hair was disheveled, her robes were a mess, and her arms gently held an unconscious bird.

"My dear, what happened?" called McGonagall worriedly.

"N-nothing."

"Really?" said Dumbledore, his blue eyes intense, not sparkling as they had been earlier. He knew… somehow she knew he did. "Well then, let's get this fellow up to the hospital wing. Looks like you both put up quite a fight." He kept shooting glances at her as they made their way down the corridor, but said nothing.

Once they reached the hospital wing, Madam Pomfrey was nowhere to be found.

"Minerva, would you be so kind as to find Poppy for us?"

"Yes, Headmaster." With that, the older witch left them alone as she went to find the missing medi-witch.

"So he overstepped the line, did he?" asked Dumbledore, looking Hermione over sadly.

"Sir?" She busied herself by putting the now slowly awakening bird down on a table.

"Mr. Weasley. I'm quite sure he was the one who confronted you."

"Why would you say that, sir?"

"Several reasons. Firstly, if your attacker was someone like Mr. Malfoy or Miss Bulstrode, you would not have hesitated to tell us what happened. And secondly, I have known that Mr. Weasley's emotional state has not been what one would call stable lately."

"I think all this waiting and wondering about the war is getting to him," she said softly, looking at the bird, not seeing the sadness in the Headmaster's eyes.

It was quite a shame, really, that Mr. Weasley would throw away such a good friendship. But then, the Headmaster thought to himself that this could work to his advantage in the long run. With the two friends estranged, Albus could start on another aspect of her future.

Ron and Harry, the Headmaster was sad to say, would stand in the way of what he believed to be Miss Granger's true destiny.

"I will deal with it discreetly, Miss Granger," he said softly, as he got up to leave. "Where would I find him?"

"In my quarters, Professor. Under a full body bind." She looked up at him, her eyes holding uncertainty.

He smiled softly at her. "I think, given the circumstances, hexing him can be overlooked this one time."

Relief flooded her, and she smiled back just as Professor McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey came into the room.

"Ah, Poppy! Please look over the bird and the girl, if you will not mind," he said as he ignored her dark look at the mention of the bird. "Come, Minerva; we have something to take care of."

A/N Thanks again June beta extraordinaire!


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I don't own the HP universe JKR does the lucky dog! I only do this for fun not money!

The Raven  
By: Bree McGregor

Chapter 5

Madam Pomfrey took care of Hermione first instead of the raven. Even though Hermione tried to insist that she look at Mistoffelees first, the medi-witch would have nothing of it.

Just as Madam Pomfrey was finishing up with Hermione, Hagrid came stumbling into the hospital wing.

"Good heavens!" Madam Pomfrey said as she ran over to the half-giant. She made him sit down on a bed, which sank dangerously low from his weight; neither the medi-witch nor Hagrid paid much attention to it. He had been beaten up pretty badly, but after a few nicely placed spells from Madam Pomfrey, he felt much better. Hermione was dying to know what had happened but thought it best not to ask just yet.

As soon as Hagrid was back in good health, Hermione would be taking Mistoffelees to him instead of Madam Pomfrey. She would have plenty of time to ask Hagrid later about his injuries.

On their way to the head girl's room, Dumbledore had summarized briefly to McGonagall on what happened between Ron, Hermione, and the raven. The transfiguration professor really didn't want to believe it, but when they arrived and she saw Ron lying on Hermione's floor in a full body bind, she knew it was true. It was not that she thought Albus or Hermione would lie; it was just not something she was willing to think one of her Gryffindors would do.

After releasing the boy from the spell and leading him to the headmaster's office, Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall began grilling a now fully functioning Ron. Dumbledore had a sad look on his face, and McGonagall looked like she could skin him alive!

Ron looked back and forth as he sat between the two, not knowing what to say, until it all became too much for him and he burst into tears. Albus and Minerva exchanged glances over the distressed boy's head.

"Mr. Weasley I must stress the seriousness of this situation," the Headmaster said slowly. "Miss Granger's accusation, though I had to drag it out of the girl, does not hold well for you. Can you tell me why you did what you did?"

"Well," Ron swallowed hard. "That depends on what you're referring to, sir. Why did I go talk to her or why did I kiss her?"

"I think it was a bit more then just that, wouldn't you say, Mr. Weasley?" pushed Dumbledore. He knew just how to break the young man to tell him everything about what happened. He also knew that Hermione didn't tell him too much as well; she only agreed with what the Headmaster said.

Before he could do anything, he needed Mr. Weasley to confess to what happened. After that, his only problem would be keeping Minerva from killing the boy.

"Well," Ron said, as he took a deep breath. He figured if he was going to get expelled, this was his only chance to tell his side of the story. "I was mad at Hermione for ignoring me. I thought we were getting closer during the summer, but when we got back to Hogwarts she totally ignored me. All I could think about when I went up there was I HAD to talk to her — make her see reason, to make her tell me what went wrong. She wouldn't even tell me; she would not see me alone... I've tried everything! I deserved an answer. Then, when I was up there and I saw her, I just knew if I kissed her she would understand... but she didn't! She didn't want to! She didn't even try!!" his voice and anger grew as he spoke about it. He got up and started to pace in front of the Headmaster's desk. "She led me on for years, then all of the sudden… nothing, not since she got that damn bird!"

"Please Mr. Weasley, sit down and watch your language!" Dumbledore told him. "NOW!" he added forcefully when the boy didn't look like he was going to comply.

Ron sat down quickly in the chair that he was sitting in before. Albus got up from behind his desk and advanced on the boy. He did everything in his power to not show his anger at him. He knew that his boy was a bomb waiting to explode! Because of his envy of his two best friends — Harry for his fame, Hermione for her brains — this young man felt pushed into the background, unnoticed. If Dumbledore didn't handle this just right, the boy would blow

He tilted the boy's head to look him straight in the eyes. He wanted to perform Legilimency on him, but one look in the boy's eyes told him there was much more to this than just a young angry man. The boy's eyes were glossy, and his skin was cold and clammy.

"Mr. Weasley, did you eat or drink anything before you went to see Miss Granger today?" he asked, not unkindly but not warmly either.

"N-no sir…. Oh! Wait, I had a piece of my mother's treacle fudge she sent to make up for the batch the Slytherins stole at Christmas."

The Headmaster took out his wand and walked over to his fireplace, while McGonagall took a moment to study the boy. 'He is far too emotional,' she thought. She knew the boy too well, and this was not his normal behavior.

Ron noticed that she was staring at him, so he thought to ask her a question to try and take off the uneasy feeling her stare was giving him. He knew her Animagus form was that of a cat, and right at that moment he felt like dinner.

"What is the Headmaster doing?" his voice shook as he spoke.

"I would imagine he is taking off the wards to talk to your mother."

"NO!" he gasped in horror. "She'll kill me!"

"Not if I get to you first," McGonagall answered softly. Ron had never heard such a soft and deadly voice from her before. Looking at her, he noticed again that she seemed so much like a cat with narrowed eyes watching its prey, waiting for the right moment to pounce.

Dumbledore finished up removing the wards, took a pinch of floo powder and called forth Molly Weasley. Within moments, her head popped up through the green flames

"Albus? What's the matter? You've never called me from your office before. I thought it was floo-blocked!" exclaimed Molly Weasley. She was quite shaken; this could only mean something very bad has happened. "Ron, Ginny, Harry, Hermione! Are they all right? Shall I come there?"

The Headmaster held up his hands to stem the flow of questions, all asked in what seemed like only one breath

"Calm yourself, Molly. No one is hurt; and no, I don't think that you have to make a personal appearance. I do need some information from you, though; did you make and send Ronald some treacle fudge recently?"

"Well, if that's all you're asking, Albus, couldn't you just have sent me an owl?" she said, exasperated. They all could hear pots bubbling in the background indicating she was in the middle of cooking a large batch of something. From what they knew of the Weasley family matron, the treats were most likely for her "Which Witch Is Which" women's group that had a monthly meeting where all the members brought food and gossip.

"This is very important, Molly: did you send Ronald some treacle fudge; and if so, was anyone else with you who may have had anything to do with it?"

"Well, yes, I did send him some more. He told me by owl that those rotten Slytherins had stolen his Christmas batch, so I sent more."

"Are you sure?"

"Why yes, I had the twins deliver it for me since I had a bake sale to bake for. Our women's group is trying to raise money for the new Wizarding Orphanage. Since You-Know-Who has been back, we unfortunately need a new orphanage; we can't just keep sending the children to Muggles, now can we?"

"No, indeed not, Molly; thank you. I will keep in touch." The Headmaster closed the floo network before the woman could demand any more answers from him. He had a clue as to what was going on, and his talk with Molly just strengthened his theory. He then turned back to the two sitting in front of his desk.

This was not good. The boy looked green, fearful, curious, as well as very confused. The look on Minerva's face was priceless; the Headmaster was very glad it was not directed at him, but he needed it away from the boy at the moment. He made his way to his desk, and scribbled out a note and handed it to Minerva.

"Please have this owl delivered as soon as possible, if you please."

She looked at the note, nodded her head, and — with one more dark look toward Ron — left the room.

"W-what do we do now, sir?"

"We wait." With that, the Headmaster picked up a book and started reading as if the boy wasn't even in the room.

Dumbledore knew how to get to people, young and old. He knew there was more to all this than met the eye, but he couldn't just slap the boy on the wrist and say 'don't do that again!' No; Ron needed punishment. Since the boy was brought up in a frenzied chaotic house, with a lot of yelling and noise, the veteran Headmaster knew silence was Ron's greatest fear. So, silence became Dumbledore's greatest punishment weapon. Watching silently out of the corner of his eye, he saw the boy start to squirm.

The Headmaster smiled inwardly. He had never told anyone, but the Sorting Hat did mention him fitting in a bit too well in Slytherin when he was sorted — oh, so long ago; and it was times like this that his Slytherin side had a tendency to show up.

After Hagrid was pronounced fit enough, he took a look at Hermione's bird, as Hermione told him the story of how she found him and was nursing him back to health.

"Well, now after yeh told me what this fine young fellar went through, he's looking very well. Yer doing a great job with him, 'Mione!"

Hermione beamed at her friend. She didn't know why, but that compliment meant more to her than a teacher saying "good work" when she got yet another 100 on a test.

"But you know, if yeh don' want ter take care of him, I can take him down ter me hut. I do have some er... things I'm takin' care of, but one more wouldn' hurt."

"No, I'm fine taking care of him. He's great at finding students out of bed after curfew." With that, they both started laughing and went back to taking care of the bird.

Once Hermione was back in her room, she was uncomfortable. The room felt unclean and so did she. So, first she took a hot shower, then set out to clean her room.

Snape sat there on his window sill and watched the girl sweep, scrub, and polish down every nook and cranny of the room without magic until she was satisfied, two hours later.

"Wow, that was some workout… I need another bath!"

He watched her disappear into the bathroom. When she reemerged, almost an hour later, he noticed that her skin was red, not from the hot steamy water, but from the redness that came from being scrubbed far too harshly and repetitively.

Hermione started to dry her hair with a towel. She could always charm it, but for some reason she felt better doing it this way. Looking around her room, she noticed a few books out of line and a few papers that should be filed, but as she started to straighten those things up, she heard a loud squeak from the window. As she looked, she saw Mistoffelees shake his feathers at her and give her a blatant stare.

Giving a deep sigh, she sat heavily onto her bed.

"You think I'm stupid, don't you… cleaning up like a maniac. Well, you see, I have to get the feel of him off me, to get his presence out of my sanctuary. If I don't, I think I will go mad."

Just then Crookshanks came in and jumped onto her lap. 'That damn cat always knows when she needs a good hug,' Snape thought. For the first time, he wished his Animagus form was a bit more huggable. 'Where did that come from!' he screamed in his head. Shaking his feathers again to clear his head, he knew he was going to have to get back his original form soon; it seemed he was starting to lose his mind, or was he?

Snape watched Hermione with a strange sense of envy, as she buried her face in the familiar's soft fur and cried on the half-Kneazle. Crookshanks only purred softly, as if to say, 'It's okay, I'm here now.'

A/N Thank you everyone for you encouragement, and your support it's because of you that I'm continuing this story here.

A special thank you to June my beta reader! Wow girl you're great!


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I don't own the HP universe JKR does the lucky dog! I only do this for fun not money!

The Raven

By: Bree McGregor  
Chapter 6

A few hours later Professor McGonagall returned with two redheaded boys in tow. Dumbledore looked sadly at the boys and asked them to sit down. Fred and George Weasley looked at each other, then at their brother Ron.

"What gives, Professor Dumbledore?" asked Fred.

"Yeah, we were working on a new gag at the shop when Professor McGonagall dragged us back here," George added.

Dumbledore looked at Minerva. "I thought I said to send them an owl."

"You did," she replied. "But after reading the message, I figured the sooner we get to the bottom of this, the better. So I delivered the message... personally."

'Well, I know I wouldn't like to have her angry with me,' Dumbledore thought to himself. 'I'm amazed they're still in one piece.'

"I would like to ask you what happened to the treacle fudge you mother entrusted you with delivering to your younger brother?" the Headmaster asked.

"Oh, that!" Fred said, relieved. "Well, we just put in an enhancement potion."

"Yeah, we knew that Ron had a hard time showing his emotions, so we figured we'll help him out a little," added George.

"We knew of his feelings for Hermione, and we also knew that little biddy Ronnie pooh wouldn't have the guts to tell her."

"So when Mom told us to send some treacle fudge for him, we thought he would share it with her, and ta-da! Love match!"

"Humph!" came an angry sound from Professor McGonagall.

"Well, it seems your little trick backfired, dear boys. I will be amazed if she ever speaks to him again," Professor Dumbledore said sadly.

"Why? What happened?" the twins said in unison, looking at an embarrassed and ashamed Ron.

"Well," Professor McGonagall cut in. "It seems that your younger brother with the help of the two of you..."

"Minerva! That is enough!" Professor Dumbledore bellowed. "You are not helping this matter!"

The silence weighed heavily in the room.

"Sir," Ron spoke up for the first time, "May I tell them?"

"As you wish."

Ron looked over at his brothers and took a deep breath. "Well, it seems that I did something very unforgivable."

"What's that, Ron?" George asked confused.

Ron bowed his head in shame and whispered, "I attacked Hermione."

"What?! No way!" they both yelled in unison.

"It seems that the potion you put into the fudge was a bit strong, and he was already angry before he ate it," Professor Dumbledore pinned the twins down with a harsh stare. "I will suggest you NOT play around with potions that change people's basic personality."

Just then there was a knock at the Headmaster's door. But before he could call them to come in, the door opened to reveal Molly Weasley. Professor Dumbledore took notice as all three boys sank deeper into their chairs. 'Perfect, just what the boys desperately need! And it's only the tip of the iceberg,' he thought.

"Albus, I'm sorry, but you got me all wound up!" spoke Mrs. Weasley, who was extremely out of breath. "Now tell me what is going on! You've never called me to your office like this before."

"Well, Molly, it seems that the twins put something in the fudge you had them deliver for you." He paused as she gave the twins the evil eye, knowing they couldn't be up to any good. "They put in a potion that makes people react in ways they normally would not have. So as a result, I'm sorry to say your son Ron attacked a student after eating some of the potion-induced fudge."

"Oh, my!" she exclaimed, as she then looked at the twins again. "Just you two wait! You would think you would have learned your lesson when you turned Uncle Rupert's prize boxer pups into a litter of kittens."

She turned to Professor Dumbledore. "Who did Ron get in a fight with, Albus?"

"Well, it wasn't really a fight. He overpowered her easily, but she fought back extremely well."

Molly had a bad feeling in her gut about this. "What are you telling me, Albus?"

"The twins' potion enhances emotions. If the emotions were small, they became stronger; if they were strong, they become intense; if they were intense, they grow to overpower the person taking the potion."

"Who did Ron attack?" she asked again, a bit more strongly this time.

"Someone he had feelings for, for quite some time now."

"Hermione?" she gasped, and then looked at the boy who had his head shamefully down, not looking at anything.

"Why, Ron?"

"I — I thought if she kissed me it would all work out, but things got out of hand. I didn't mean to," Ron said in barely a whisper, but she heard it anyway.

"NO! Don't tell me you tried to... Hermione?" she was so taken back that it took her a few moments to take it all in. Then her eyes became hard and cold as she looked at all three boys. Professor Dumbledore thought that this would be a good time to set things in motion.

"In his defense, Molly, he had taken a potion that changed his personality. He had been very angry with her since the summer."

Molly then looked at the twins with an angrier look than she ever gave Ron. Then she exploded like a volcano.

"How could you! I trusted you to send off the fudge to your brother — a simple request! How can I ever trust you two again!"

Professor Dumbledore closed the door behind him, casting a spell as he left so no one could leave and no unwanted spells could be cast. He knew that Molly would never hurt her children, but in this case, Hermione was like a daughter to her, and the boys had hurt her. The Headmaster knew Molly would feel even worse if she knew Ron had hurt Professor Snape, but for now, Severus was still just a raven. He didn't know how this conversation would work out between Molly and the boys, but he did know he didn't want to be there for it! He knew that it was going to take hours for her to wind down.

Hermione was patrolling the halls on her rounds. It had been a week since the episode with Ron; his mother made him and the twins tell her everything that happened and that they were very sorry. She said she forgave them, but in truth, she was too angry. Just the thought of it made her livid, but she could not bring herself to hate them. She did tell them to keep away from her for a while, since her anger was still fresh in her mind. Not long after their apology, the twins left, and Ron had blessedly kept his distance from her for the past week.

There was only one thing that didn't add up. Yes, the potion enhanced his emotions, but she had felt tough emotions before, during their first kiss last summer. To her, deep down, the potion just brought out a darker side of Ron; she knew his heart, though, and she prayed this scared him enough to keep it in check.

As she walked the halls, she was so deep in thought that she didn't notice that Mistoffelees had glided off ahead of her again. He was getting stronger and stronger every day. With the help of Hagrid's wing exercises, he was coming along rapidly. He would be in full health soon, if not already, and had been showing signs of independence from her.

Hermione noticed a shadow before her as she approached. It was Draco. 'Great,' she thought. 'Just what I need.'

"Go to your house, Draco, or I will take off points," she said in way of a greeting.

"Mind your own business, Mudblood!" he sneered.

"I'm Head Girl, so it is my business. Just because you didn't make Head Boy doesn't mean you can take it out on the entire school."

"Shut up!" he yelled, as he pulled out his wand. Hermione was faster and had her wand pressed against his windpipe before he even had a chance to draw his wand. Unknownst to the two, the Raven had returned to see why Hermione hadn't kept up with him; the angry students didn't notice the small bird standing against the wall.

"Give me a reason, Draco, just give me reason," she threatened.

"Gods, you sound like Snape."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"Well, I wouldn't… he's dead, you know, as you will you be."

"Liar!"

"No, I have it on good authority that my godfather finally has met his maker, and good riddance!" Draco smiled at the shocked look on her face, and then turned, leaving her stunned in the middle of the hallway.

She shook herself and made a run toward the Headmaster's office. Snape glided silently behind her, wondering why the girl seemed upset. She saw the Headmaster standing in the hall, talking with Professor McGonagall and Hagrid.

"Miss Granger, whatever is the matter?" called out Professor McGonagall as she saw her young student running toward them. Hagrid and Professor Dumbledore turned to look at her as well.

"Sorry to disturb you." Hermione slowed to a walk then stopped in front of Professor Dumbledore

"Not at all, dear child." He took her hands and looked into her eyes. "Are you not well?" he asked gently.

"I had a run-in with Draco. He — he told me that he knew that Professor Snape was… well, he was dead, sir. Is that true?" Albus looked into her eyes and sighed heavily, not sure what to tell her. Then he noticed the Raven watching him.

"I do not know, child. We have not seen him or gotten an owl from him for quite some time. We need him desperately. As you know, the Order is gearing up and so much is riding on his expertise. Not only for his work in potions or as a spy, but we need everyone right now. I fear, my dear, I do not know what to tell you."

"You think Voldamort killed him, don't you?" Hermione asked fearfully.

"No, my dear, Professor Snape's body has not been found. We all know that Tom always leaves a message on where and how he kills."

"Maybe that is the message, sir."

"What do you mean, child?"

"Well, think about it. To disappear with no one knowing what happened to you; dying all alone somewhere. I think that is a big message in itself." 

"Yes, it would be if it were a younger member with a family; that would be a very strong message. No, my dear, I think he would have done something worse to Professor Snape and left his body for us to find. Now go on, I believe your shift is over and it looks like you need some sleep."

She only nodded and started to walk away slowly, when the Raven glided down and landed on her shoulder. She absentmindedly reached up to stroke his feathers.

"Oh, one last thing, Miss Granger. Since Hagrid is here, let him see Mr. Mistoffelees." Hermione turned to the Headmaster's request and sadly walked toward Hagrid.

"Well, 'Ermione, your bird's lookin' like he's all 'bout healed," Hagrid said, giving the bird a clean bill of health.

"Wonderful!" called out Dumbledore. He turned to the sad-eyed girl. "Now, I think its time to let him go."

"What?" she couldn't believe it! Even the Raven stiffened at that comment.

"Yes, he's a child of nature and must be returned to it. Meet me at the front door first thing tomorrow morning, now off to bed with you."

As soon as Hermione was around the corner and none of the professors could see her, she ran to her room, trying to hold back the tears. 

A/N All Hail June the best beta in the world! And Thank you all for your kind reviews.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I don't own the HP universe JKR dose the lucky dog! I only do this for  
Fun not money!

The Raven

By: Bree McGregor

Chapter 7

Hermione threw herself onto her bed; Snape had left her shoulder as soon as she opened the door. He didn't like being around girls that cried but this time… this time it was different. She was crying about him. Never before had someone cared that he ever came back, except for Dumbledore, of course.

He had been gliding though the halls, happy to have his mobility again. So happy, in fact, that he had let his guard down and didn't see young Malfoy there, waiting in the shadows. When he realized that Hermione wasn't behind him any longer, he turned back. Snape arrived on the scene just in time to see her pull her wand on Malfoy.

"Give me a reason, Draco!"

"Gods, you sound like Snape."

Snape thought that was a bit humorous. 'She sounded like me, did she?'

Then Draco told her he knew Snape was dead. Her reaction to the news puzzled Snape. When she yelled, "Liar!" it sounded so passionate... Why should she care what happened to the snarky, evil Potions master?

Snape followed her as she ran toward the Headmaster's office. He saw the Headmaster talking with Minerva and Hagrid. Snape didn't like the way they were huddled together. The staff only did that when something of importance happened, and they seemed to be nervously trying to hide the fact.

Dumbledore talked kindly to Hermione, telling her he hadn't gotten any kind of word from Snape. Sneaky old coot! He didn't lie to the girl. Unfortunately, he was still stuck in his raven form, so he couldn't talk. Then they started to talk about his murder and what kind of message it would mean. Snape had an odd sensation to know she had given his death such deep thought. For the life of him, he couldn't understand why.

He noticed that she began to walk away, so he glided down to her. Then they were called back for Hagrid to have a look at him. He dealt with the poking and prodding that the half-giant put him through, giving him a good bill of health.

Then the shocker.

He was to be released in the morning! He could be human again, but that would mean leaving Hermione. He didn't know if he was ready for that just yet. Over the time he had been living with her and unknown by her, he had grown quite attached to the young witch. He wouldn't say he was in love with her, not even to himself.

Now, in her private Head Girl room, he noticed she allowed herself to cry. He hated it when she cried. Not wanting to see her cry, he looked around for the monster of a cat that always seemed to know when she was upset; but the cat was nowhere to be found. So, the Raven just sat there looking longingly at the tearful young woman. He could change back now into his human form and take her in his arms, until she was all cried out.

No, he shook that thought out of his head at once. She was too quick and clever a witch; she would have her wand out and start cursing him before he even reached for her. Best to keep concealed as a harmless raven. She finally rubbed her eyes and looked at him.

"I'm sorry, Mistoffelees. I don't want to let you go, but I know Dumbledore is right. You're a child of nature, and I'm sure you want to go back home to your family."

'To hell with that!' thought Snape.

"And it's selfish for me to want to keep you here with me." The girl sniffed again. "It's hard enough to find out Professor Snape is dead, then to lose you. I keep wondering if the world will ever get better again. Will I ever be happy?" She sighed heavily.

Snape understood this line of thinking. He often had this conversation with himself, but unlike Hermione, who had the entire world before her, his future was long over with. The life of a spy is short-lived, no matter how good you are at it.

He looked over at Hermione, whose eyes were closed; she seemed to be in great emotional pain. He never had a pet before, but he had heard that the parting of a beloved pet was like losing a family member. Not that he really knew much about that, either.

"Why did he have to die before I grew up?" she murmured sleepily.

'Why did who have to die before she grew up?' he wondered. Surely, she didn't mean him? Not the feared Potions master of the Dungeons. He was thinking to himself when another moan came from the girl on the bed. He ignored it at first, until her moans became more frequent and more stressed. Worried, he looked over at her only to find something he wasn't expecting.

a little solo if you want to read it go to or did you have to die before I grew up and told you how I feel about you?"

'Surely she doesn't mean me,' he kept thinking.

"Damn you, Snape!" was the last coherent thing she said before sleep claimed her.

Gliding back up to the desk, he looked at the girl — no, the woman, Miss Granger — no, the woman named Hermione, looking at her he knew deep down that his heart was now well and truly lost to her. He became depressed. Would he ever have the courage to tell her how he felt about her?

Morning broke, and Hermione was dressed and waiting for the time she had to take Mistoffelees down to the front of the school. She was certain the Headmaster would be there to make sure she would let the bird go. It was not that he didn't trust her under normal circumstances, but she had been through a lot and this was just one more thing added to her miserable life. She would like to think the Headmaster would be there for her moral support, but deep down she doubted it.

She looked deep into the bird's eyes, trying to find the words that he would understand. "I don't know if you understand me, Mistoffelees, but I have to let you go today."

The bird blinked at her as if to say he understood. She could almost make herself believe that she saw sadness in his eyes, as if he didn't want to leave her either, but Dumbledore said the wild called to him; the raven needed to be free. He would probably forget all about her, she thought miserably.

As she expected, Professor Dumbledore was waiting by the front door for her to arrive. Turning around, he saw the young woman walking slowly toward him, as if she was being led to the gallows. He hated to do this to her; she had been through so much lately, but he needed Severus back in action. Not as a spy; that cover was too dangerous to continue. He needed the man's quick intelligence and cunning ways. He never knew how much he relied on him until the Potions Master was no longer there.

"Good morning, Miss Granger. Did you sleep well?" the Headmaster asked softly.

Snape looked at the man. 'If you only knew what I do, old man, then again I'm glad you don't know what I know.'

Hermione only nodded silently. She didn't like to lie to the Headmaster, but she really didn't want to talk to him right now either.

"Good," the Headmaster said softly as he opened the doors for her. "Shall we?"

Hermione took a deep breath, and stepped through the front doors of Hogwarts. The air was crisp and cool; the sun was out shining off the lake in a beautiful display of shimmering diamonds. Hermione thought it wasn't fair that the day was so perfect, as if nothing in the world was wrong, when she felt everything was wrong. Couldn't the weather be dark and gloomy to match her mood?

Snape was perched on her shoulder, rocking back and forth, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. He never realized how much he missed being outside; this was freedom. As much as he would miss Hermione, it was time to go back to being the hated greasy black bat of the dungeons; the only problems were Voldemort and his Death Eaters. Snape was sure that Albus and he together would find a way to salvage this whole thing, but he needed to be human first.

Hermione moved him off her shoulder and onto her hand so she could look at him. She looked him in the eyes as she stroked his head. Then, to his surprise, she kissed his head. Looking at her, he saw the unshed tears there. How could he leave her now?

"Go, go now, Mistoffelees," she whispered. The bird didn't leave. Taking a deep, though shaky, breath, Hermione threw her hand up in the air, leaving the bird no choice but to fly.

The raven circled above her three times as if to say "thank you," then flew toward the Forbidden Forest.

"Well done, Miss Granger; well done," said Professor Dumbledore softly, as he looked at the girl. She just stood there, looking toward the Forbidden Forest.

"Come now. Breakfast is being served." Putting his hand on her shoulder, he gave her a gentle push back inside. Hermione allowed herself to be led. She felt numb and empty. She really wasn't hungry, but she sat down and tried to eat some toast. Not many were in the Great Hall this early, for which she was grateful.

The Headmaster made his way as fast as he could without showing any outward stress. Closing the door to his office, he rushed over to the window and swung it wide open. Within minutes, a black raven swept into the room.

"Well, there you are. Are you ready to give it a try?"

The raven transformed into a tall thin man with long black hair and deep penetrating black eyes, who was dressed entirely in black.

"Thank the gods!" Snape's voice was rough and tired from lack of use for so long.

"Now tell me, Severus. What happened?"

Hermione had to get out of there. The Great Hall had filled up, and the noise was overwhelming. She got up and left without saying a word to anyone. The boys didn't say a thing to her about leaving or about her missing companion. Ron looked at her but didn't dare even to make eye contact.

"Harry," Ron called to his friend.

The dark-haired boy turned from watching Hermione leave. "Hmm?"

"Do you think she will ever forgive me?" Ron asked, depressed.

"Give her time, Ron. She's been going through a lot. The only thing I can think of is just leave her be. She will come to us when she's ready."

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

Hermione was wandering the halls aimlessly. She just liked the emptiness of the halls at this time of morning. Her mind was so deep in thought she did not see that she was at the steps leading down to the dungeons. She also didn't see a tall dark-haired man, watching her from the shadows, until she ran into him.

Snape watched her approaching, so lost in thought. He didn't move when he saw her walk toward him; when she walked into him, his arms came around her to hold onto her just a little too tightly. To everyone else, if there was anyone else to see it, it would just look as if he was holding her steady.

She looked up into his face and turned white as a sheet. One of his eloquent eyebrows shot up at her reaction.

"Why, Miss Granger, you look as if you've seen a ghost." His voice was softer then she had ever heard, and she realized he had not let go of her yet.

"I… I thought you were dead, sir."

"In many ways I was just that, Miss Granger." He reluctantly let her go, then stepped back from her and headed toward the stairs leading to his dungeons. That little run-in unsettled him more then he wanted to admit. Perhaps he would visit her in his Raven form to keep an eye on the happenings in Gryffindor house. At least, that is what he tried to convince himself — knowing full well that he would visit her just to be close to her again. His time with her was running short; she would be graduating in three months and would then be gone from his life forever.

"I... I'm glad you're back, sir," she spoke to his retreating back, breaking into his thoughts.

"So am I, Miss Granger," he said, stopping but not turning to look at her. He was afraid if he did that, he would take her in his arms again.

"Will you be teaching again, sir?"

"No, Miss Granger. I will not be teaching for the remainder of the school year."

"Oh," her voice was so dejected that he turned around to look at her. Her shoulders were slumped, and she didn't look up at him. The desire to touch her was too much for him, so he took a few more steps down before speaking again.

"The Headmaster told me you wanted to become a Potions mistress. Why?"

"Well, when you were gone and I thought you were dead, I decided that the world needed more Potions masters and mistresses. If you were dead, so much knowledge would have died with you. It… it broke my heart."

"Indeed."

Hermione looked at him strangely. He realized his voice was void of all coldness she had come to expect from him.

"But I am going to have a study group for only the top students that are looking to go into Potions and Medi-wizardry," he told her.

"R-really, sir!"

His heart stopped at the look of pure joy on her face.

"Yes, Miss Granger." Then, going back into his teacher mode, his voice grew colder, if only for his own preservation. "And I will not tolerate your overzealous hand-waving."

"YES, SIR!" she called, smiling happily at him.

He turned his back on her and walked down the steps. Hermione was experiencing so many mixed feelings; she was sad that Mistoffelees was no longer with her, but she was also ecstatic that Professor Snape was alive and well. Hermione felt that life just might be worth living again.

A/N: Thanks everyone for all the great reivews! it dose help to get them out sooner.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I do not own HP though I wish I had a Snape of my very own, but until that time ill barrow hers! LOL

The Raven

By: Bree McGregor

WARNING!... To tallgiraffe32, and anyone else who thinks I should have stoped it on chapter 7... STOP READING NOW!!! Yes they are having private lessions... though with a twist. so ANYONE who dosent like where I am taking this story LEAVE NOW! NO FLAMES PLEASE this is my story and well I wish to contine it as I orginaly felt it should be. so sorry people who think I should stop... Im not... live with it or dont read it...

Chapter 8

Snape watched Hermione as she made her way down the hall. 'She seems to be genuinely happy for my return. Not a sentiment shared by many,' he thought. With a deep silent sigh he lowered the wards on his chambers, glad to see nothing had changed or was disturbed.

He located a bottle of firewhisky, lit a fire, and sat down on a slightly dusty chair. He sipped his whisky slowly as he stared into the flames. His mind wandered back to earlier in the day, and the horrid meeting with the Order that took place in the Headmaster's office.

Snape had sat deep in the shadows, watching the other Order members pile into the Headmaster's office. Molly was the only one who showed up for the Weasley clan. 'Thank the gods!' thought Snape; he didn't think he could have dealt with the twin's pranks without hexing someone to high heaven by the end of the meeting.

He enjoyed not being seen for the time, which was one of the reasons he sat in the farthest darkest part of the room, but that all changed when most of the Order members were present except for Albus and Minerva. Molly was the first to notice him; she gave a loud gasp, then a cry, as she rushed over to him and enveloped him with a large hug.

To say Snape was shocked by her display of affection would have been an understatement. Everyone else in the room looked over in shock at the small round woman hugging what they all had assumed to be a dead man.

"Mrs. Weasley, if you mind!" Snape said in his gruff manner. While deep down he was touched by the woman's actions, nothing compared to what he felt as she pulled away from him and he saw her tear-streaked face.

"Don't ever do that again!" she yelled at him as she wiped off her tears from her face. "We all thought you were dead! No note! No message! No nothing!!!"

"Indeed, Severus was dead, in a matter of speaking," everyone turned to the deep voice of Albus Dumbledore who stood in the doorway with Minerva McGonagall. "Now, Molly, if you will please stop manhandling Severus and sit down, all will be explained."

Molly left Severus standing in the shadows and took her seat. Albus waited until everyone was seated before he began to talk.

"Severus was indeed hurt during his last summons," the Headmaster explained. "We almost didn't find him in time, but the problem was that he was hurt in his Animagus form. So, from then until just a few days ago, he was not in his human form. On top of that, he has been discovered as a spy, and Voldemort has been looking everywhere for him. It was wise to keep everyone believing he was dead."

"So what has changed now that he's back?" asked Kingsley Shacklebolt. "Wouldn't you-know-who still want him dead?"

"Oh, I'm sure he would. This is not going to happen, though. Anyway, our problem is that we have now lost a valuable ally within Voldemort's inner circle. We need to find another way to find out what he is up to." The room went into an uproar, and the Headmaster just waited until everyone settled down before he turned to Severus.

"I take it you succeeded in your mission, my boy?"

"Yes, Headmaster. 'It' is in place." Snape replied.

"In place?! What's in place? What's going on, Albus?" Moody demanded, his hands slamming on the desk and his one eye rolling around angrily.

"We placed a spying mirror within the headquarters of Voldemort so we can keep watch on him with no one present. The war is coming, and we need all the help we can get."

"Indeed, but the spying mirror can only show what it sees. If no one is in that room, then we can see and hear nothing," commented Snape.

"That's true, my boy, but at least we know the information is correct. We have been suspicious for some time that he has been feeding you wrong information. We know he no longer trusted you. Too many things have happened that you had no information about. So the mirror is the best way. He will never expect it."

"I'm not so sure; he wasn't too fond of mirrors once his last transformation took place." Snape really didn't want to get too deeply into this conversation, as he felt the other Order members need not know the true nature of that mirror. The "spying mirror" was one-half of the Deconoulus… also known as the Mirrors of the Void, or the Twin Demon Mirrors of the Soulless. Whatever they were called, their magic was darker then even the Dark Lord could control, but somehow the Headmaster had control of it, just as surely as he possessed the other half of the Deconoulus.

After a few more comments and discussions, the Order meeting was adjourned. They had agreed to explain Snape's absence by telling everyone that Snape had been off to Kazakhstan, where there was a great flora and fauna reserve that grew many wild and virtually extinct and exotic herbs. According to the official story, he had been researching some potions and ingredients. Everyone on both sides would know it to be a lie, but something had to be said to explain his disappearance, and to the rest of the wizarding world it was as good as any excuse.

Snape stayed behind to talk to Albus; this was the part the he feared. To make the Deconoulus work, they needed a person of strong will and intelligence to focus the mirror and its twin, someone pure of heart who would not get drawn into the void housed within the mirrors themselves. Snape feared the answer before he even spoke the question.

"And who did you find to control the mirrors?" he asked softly.

"My boy," Albus gave a deep sigh, "I know you have grown fond of her these past few months."

"NO! I WILL NOT HAVE IT! NOT HER, ALBUS! NOT HER!" Snape screamed at him. He was expecting this answer, but he was not prepared for the rush of emotion that hit him when he heard the words out loud.

"My boy, calm yourself. I know what you are feeling, but there is no one else that can do this. I have looked deep into Miss Granger many, many times these past few years. I believe she was born to do this. I believe she was always meant to be the mediator of the mirrors."

"You're wrong, Albus. This time you're very, very wrong!"

"You know I speak the truth. You were with her in her deepest private moments. She has a sorrow deep within, but her soul shines with an incredibly bright light. She is the combination of light and dark that balances the universe. Her pure heart and strangth have helped her friends numerous times. You know who I had in mind when you took the mirror there. Did you not?"

"I had an idea," Snape said in an empty voice. He knew that what Albus said was true; he just didn't want his little Hermione caught up in all this. 'My little Hermione? Where the hell did that thought come from?'... He knew where it came from, and it was a wish that would never come true.

"You know I speak the truth. You will have to teach her to strengthen her mind so she can focus and control the mirrors. We already know she has the will and intelligence; she just needs to learn to focus herself, and she needs to become a full member of the Order as soon as possible."

"As you wish," Snape said as he walked out of the Headmaster's office without looking back. If he had, he would have seen a devilish sparkle mischievously dancing in the old man's eyes.

Snape looked up at the clock that hung over his mantel. It was hours after the meeting, well time to make his appearance in the Great Hall as the walking-living-dead-man. He swallowed the last of his firewhisky and slowly left his chambers. He knew he was late, but he thought if he was going to make an entrance then he better make it memorable.

Everyone was chatting away eating when Hermione looked up at the staff table sorrowfully.

'Isn't he coming to dinner? Is Dumbledore keeping him away since he's not an official teacher anymore?' she thought, looking at the other professors. 'They do seem to be a bit worried.' She noticed Professor McGonagall looking at the empty seat next to her.

Just then the front doors slammed open with a loud BANG! Every head in the room snapped to attention just in time to see a tall man with black billowing robes stride into the room, his movements perfect in every domineering way. The only sound heard was the echoing of the heels of his boots as he strode between the house tables. All the students started talking at once as soon as he made his way to the High Table.

"You summoned me back from my vacation, Headmaster?" said Snape in a clear voice, following the script that Dumbledore came up with earlier that day.

"Yes, I am so sorry to call you back so soon. I know how you wanted to do some research, but as things stand I need you here. Please take your seat next to Professor McGonagall."

Snape snarled and bowed ever so slightly to the Headmaster, and made his way dramatically to his seat.

"Putting it on a little thick, aren't you, Severus?" whispered Professor McGonagall, her lips barely moving.

"Only giving what is expected, Minerva," he replied as he reached for a goblet, deliberately hiding from the students' view that the two colleagues were in any form of verbal communication. It was a strategy to a game the two of them had played for years; they both knew that this was no fun rivalry, but another spy game in a seemingly never-ending war.

Dumbledore lightly tapped a spoon against a goblet, to get the excited students to quiet down.

Ron turned to Harry and Hermione with a horrid look on his face. "He's back! NO! I can't believe it!"

"I'm sure it's fine, Ron. Calm down," Harry said as he looked up at Dumbledore.

Hermione wasn't paying attention. She had noticed that Draco's complexion had turned white as snow. He looked like someone witnessing the dead coming back to life. In many ways, she was sure that was exactly what he was feeling. And to think he had been bragging to her about Snape's death just last night. Hermione smirked at Draco when she caught his eye. His eyes narrowed at her with pure menace, but she didn't blink or look away from his challenge.

Their wordless exchange didn't go unnoticed. Snape watched the two having a silent standoff, neither backing down. He knew he should find a way to stop them, so he looked at Dumbledore — who had also noticed the two students. The Headmaster decided to make another ring, louder this time, tapping his spoon and goblet so that it was heard throughout the Great Hall and outside the doors.

"Ahh yes, now that I have EVERYONE'S attention," the Headmaster said as he stood. "I would like to make an announcement. I'm sure with that wonderful dramatic entrance from our own Professor Snape that it is obvious to all that he is alive and well. He just needed some time off for a bit of a vacation away from Hogwarts and his beloved dunderheads, as he so enjoyed calling ALL of us throughout the years." He waited until the small chuckles and polite laughs came to a stop before continuing.

"You see, Professor Snape was in the state of Kazakhstan, which was formerly a lower province of Russia, visiting a flora and fauna reserve. I believe they have many exotic and rare plants there."

"Yes, Headmaster, they do," a deep voice came from his right side.

Dumbledore looked at his dark friend and smiled at his sneering face.

'Yes, the dear boy made a great actor,' the Headmaster thought. 'But for some reason I have this feeling it's not all an act, almost like he didn't want to come back from the grave.' He looked across the room to see Miss Granger looking quite delighted at seeing that her old Potions Professor was alive and well. 'Maybe teaming those two up wouldn't be a bad idea.' Realizing that he was staring into space a little too long, he smiled and continued his speech.

"So I would like us all to welcome back our own Potions Master, Professor Snape." There was a round of polite hand-clapping, as only a few students put any heart into it, and of course the Gryffindor know-it-all was one of them. "Do not worry. He will not resume teaching the potions classes this semester, but he will be holding an advanced study group for those looking to become a potions master or enter any field that requires high potions marks, such as Medi-wizardry. This group is only open to seventh years who are ready for such a high-level course. Those of you that we have considered for this group will be notified very soon. Now, I believe it's time for dessert!"

With that he sat down and began to eat again. Snape looked over the room and noticed the students in his own house were not happy to see him. That was expected, since most of their fathers had told them of his great demise, so to now see him alive had brought great confusion to their young minds. How could their fathers be wrong about whether a man was dead or alive? Why would their fathers lie to them… why indeed.

Looking around further, Snape noticed Miss Granger talking to her friends, as her hand reached unconsciously to her shoulder to pet something that wasn't there. He saw her face as she realized what she was doing, and the sadness that came into her eyes. 'Perhaps a visit from Mr. Mistoffelees would not be a bad thing every once in a while,' he thought.

At the end of dinner, Professor Dumbledore looked over at Snape and said that he would like to see both him and Miss Granger in his office in ten minutes. Snape nodded and made his way to the Gryffindor table.

"I don't care what anyone says. I don't like him back… the old bloody bat!" Ron said to Harry and Hermione.

"I think it's great that he's back. I haven't learned anything new in Potions class this year," Hermione replied.

"I don't doubt that. I swear you must make love to your textbooks," Ron retorted.

"RON!" yelled Harry, flabbergasted at his friend's thoughtless words.

"Ron!" Hermione looked hurt and angry.

"Mr. Weasley, detention tonight with me for that comment," a soft deadly voice came from behind them. The three students looked back at him in shocked horror. Snape noticed that Hermione's face turned red with embarrassment from the incident. He became even angrier with Mr. Weasley for his thoughtlessness. "Yes, I can use help this evening gathering some herbs. I think a dunderhead like you can easily do such labor."

"Oh, can I come too?" asked Hermione excitedly. Ron and Harry looked at her if she had lost her mind. Snape only lifted one eyebrow and looked down his nose at her.

"WHAT?!" Hermione exclaimed to her friends. "Didn't I just say that I hadn't learned anything new in Potions class?"

"As much as I would love to give you detention as well, Miss Granger, I do not think you will have the time for it. The Headmaster has informed me that he wishes your presence in his office immediately."

"Wow, what did you do, Hermione?" Ron asked.

"Nothing that I know of. Well, I guess I'll see you guys later."

The two boys watched their best friend walk off with their most hated professor.

"Hey, Harry, I was thinking."

"Yeah, Ron?" said Harry as he still watched the door, even after Hermione and Snape had left.

"What comment do you think I got detention for? The 'old bloody bat' or the one about Hermione?"

"Why would Snape be upset that you made such a comment to Hermione? He hates her as much as he hates us."

"Yeah, you're right." Ron left the Great Hall to head back to their common room. Harry didn't want to mention it to Ron, but he definitely got the feeling Snape was indeed upset with Ron about his comment to Hermione. He noticed a look that was on Snape's face for only a split second after Ron's remark. Harry had to be glad it wasn't him that had detention tonight with Snape.

A/N: Thanks again to my wonderful Beta June your great girl!


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I do not own HP though I wish I had a Snape of my very own, but until that time, I'll borrow hers! LOL

A/N: To Random Person (Yes, they really signed it under that!)... I really hate to repeate myself but you dont like my stories dont read them... P.S. did you know that the 10 cent romance novels are now $7.99 ??? ((I actualy looked them up at the store to see how much they were... LOL)) well to all who thinks they can do better then me at writing the write one yourself. and if you are going to flame me, at least use your user name Rolls eyes its like you are afriad that I will go read your work and flame you... humm makes a person think... anyway on with the story.

The Raven

By: Bree McGregor  
Chapter 9

Hermione sat in one of the comfortable chairs before the Headmaster's huge desk. She tried not to fidget as she waited for Dumbledore to return to the room. After she and Professor Snape arrived, he told them both to wait as he had to get something, but he would be right back. She wanted to ask Snape what it was all about, but he kept to the shadows with his arms folded, looking menacing.

She thought better of bothering him, and just sat there thinking to herself that, even though she has been eighteen years old since September, she sometimes felt like a first year in the eyes of her teachers. But she didn't want to be thought of as a child, especially by Snape. She had had a crush on him for over two years now, and she didn't want him to see her as some child student dunderhead.

Snape watched her trying not to fidget. Seeing the nervous tension in her shoulders, he didn't know why but he wanted to comfort her and say that everything would be all right, but he knew better. If she agreed to become the Maiden of the Mirrors, then her life will become far more complicated then she ever could possibly dream. He only knew that he had to make her understand the consequences for her doing this, without telling her what the dangerous task really involved.

"You must understand that life is far more complex than you may see," he said softly from the shadows.

Hermione looked over at him, and tilted her head as if it would help her see him better.

"What does that cryptic message mean?"

"That what you will hear about from the Headmaster may seem to you like a good idea, or even a perfect idea. Know this: there are consequences for all actions, as well as payment that sometimes is too high a price to pay."

"Are you talking about the war? Is Dumbledore going to give me something to do finally?"

"Shut up, you silly girl, and listen to me. Do not get caught up the way I did. Do not make any decisions without seeing all the angles, and trust me, there are angles. Some angles may be seen, some unseen. Your desires to help are commendable, but know that some sacrifices are not worth your life, or even your soul."

Hermione gasped at this… her soul? Was he talking about her or himself? Many questions were running around in her head, but before she could voice a single one the side door opened, and Dumbledore returned carrying a very pretty mirror. Hermione could tell that it was extremely old, and what struck her the most was that the mirror itself was black. There was not a reflection in it, as if there wasn't any light within it to reflect.

"This, Hermione, is why I asked you to come up here," the old wizard said as he placed the mirror on a chair, with the glass side viewing the room.

"Why is the glass black, sir?" asked Hermione, letting her curiosity get to her.

"This mirror is one-half of what is called the Deconoulus, or the Mirrors of the Void."

"You forgot the other name, Headmaster. They are also called the Twin Demon Mirrors of the Soulless."

"Soulless?" Hermione whispered. 'This is what Snape was warning me about. Nothing is worth my life or my soul,' she thought. "I'm sorry, sir, but what does this have to do with me?"

Snape heard the fear creep into her voice… 'Good, nice to know that the girl listens.'

"Do you know anything about this mirror, Hermione?" Dumbledore asked gently.

"No, sir, I never heard of it," she said dishearteningly. She had read every book she can get her hands on in the library and never ran into a mention of anything named Deconoulus, and the only books she was not allowed to read were the dark magic books housed in the restricted area.

"That's not surprising," Snape said, "since there are no books in the library or any bookstore you would have gone into. It's very dark magic and very ancient."

"Thank you, Severus, I was getting to that. Well, you see, my dear, I need someone of great intelligence and willpower that can control the mirror. Since you are the most brilliant witch of our age, of course I would look to you."

"Why me? What does it do?"

"Well, as you may have guessed, Severus was not in Kazakhstan, but he was mortally wounded at a dark revel. His spying had been found out. We had to keep him hidden so they would not guess that he was still alive." Hermione looked over at her professor with concern. "He's all right now. We got to him just in time. A moment longer and there would have been nothing we could do for him. But all's well that ends well."

"But if they know he was a spy, and now they know he's alive, won't they try to kill him, sir?"

"Oh, most positively," Dumbledore smiled at her, which only confused her more.

"Can we get on with this, please!" snapped the man in the shadows.

"Oh, quite right. Well, this mirror has a twin, hence the name 'Twin Demon Mirrors of the Soulless.' The twin to this one is now hanging on the wall of Voldemort's stronghold. If we can discover what he is planning, then we can stop him from it."

"So you need me to look into this mirror to see what is going on in the room where the other mirror is located?"

"Yes, Hermione, very good!" the Headmaster was overjoyed that she was catching on so quickly.

"Okay, what's the catch?"

"What?" Dumbledore was thunderstruck by her question.

"Well, if we can see them, can't they see us?"

"They do not know that the twin mirror is there or even what it is," answered Snape.

"Okay, so again, what's the catch?" this time she looked Dumbledore straight in the eye and dared him not to tell her.

Snape smirked in the shadows. Yes, she was growing up quite nicely.

"The 'catch' is its place in the room where they usually talk about their plans, which is also were they hold the dark revels. In other words, you may see things that would give you nightmares worse than you have ever had before."

"Oh, is that all?" Hermione said sarcastically.

"Unfortunately no, that is not all," Snape said as his eyes met hers trying to make her understand the seriousness of this situation. "The other drawback is that if you are not strong enough or focused enough to control the mirror, your soul will be drawn into the void that is housed within the mirrors themselves, never being able to leave."

Hermione looked within the smooth black glass of the mirror. Not even her reflection shined back at her. She wasn't sure what frightened her more — Snape's warnings, or the sheer emptiness of the mirror. Looking deeper into the mirror, a memory came to mind of when she was a small child. She had no siblings, but she did have older cousins. Two of them, Roger and Angus, lived in the Scottish highlands; they were known for their adventurous spirits. They reminded her a bit of George and Fred Weasley, though Roger and Angus were more cruel in their pranks then the Weasley twins.

She had been eight the summer when she and her parents went to visit her cousins.

The boys took her to a rocky mountain hillside riddled with caves. All three of them went into one particular cave that they said was easy, since she was so young. All they had were small flashlights to show the way. They had told her that it was more exciting that way. At first she was afraid of the dark dank cave, afraid of the unknown and what may be lurking there. Somehow they got separated, for when she looked back to ask Roger a question the cousins were nowhere to be seen. She called out to them over and over, listening to her fearful voice echoing back to her.

After what seemed like hours of trying to find her way back, she finally admitted defeat and slid down against a wall, her face streaked with tears. When her tears subsided and all her emotion were spent, she looked up at the walls surrounding her.

She could hear the sound of running water coming from her right, and remembered that where there's water there should be a way out. Standing up with renewed hope, she followed where she thought the sound was coming from.

When she finally found the location of the water, the sight that greeted her was beyond anything she could possibly dream of. The cave opened up to a large cavern, its walls covered with little crystals sparking as if they were stars. To the far end was a small waterfall rolling into a natural lake that reflected the crystals, giving the illusion of even more stars below its still surface.

Gazing at the breathtaking images of Merlin's crystal caves, as she named them, she doubted that anyone had ever been here, especially her cousins. She could just see them destroying it with pleasure, and the thought brought tears to her eyes.

Taking a deep breath, the eight-year-old Hermione set out to look around her hidden treasure. She noticed that her fear had vanished, and from that time forward she was never afraid of the dark, for the lesson she learned was looks can be deceiving. Just because something looked scary didn't mean there wasn't incredible beauty hidden deeply within; all one must do is not be afraid to adventure into uncharted territory.

She heard voices, and realized a search party was looking for her. She looked around one last time to commit the scene before her to memory, and left hurriedly toward the voices. She didn't want anyone to find this place, for she desperately wanted to keep it the way it was… untouched.

Back in the Headmaster's office, she felt a hand on her shoulder, its warmth radiating through her. Looking away from the mirror, her eyes met those of Professor Snape's. She was once again reminded of that cave she was lost in, and the lesson she had learned there, that "just because something looks scary doesn't mean that there wasn't incredible beauty hidden deeply within." The thought shocked her to the core, as his eyes were like dark caves, deep and fathomless. A new thought came to her, as the two memories became intertwined.

"Are you all right, Miss Granger?" Snape asked concernedly, and then looked over at Dumbledore. "I told you this was not wise! She is too young to control the mirror. Albus, look at her face."

"We shall see, Severus" the Headmaster looked at her with kind eyes. "Now tell us, Miss Granger, what you saw in the mirror."

Hermione told them about her memory of being lost in a cave and the cavern she had found. The lessons she had learned from it… but then she faltered in her telling, almost saying that it reminded her of Professor Snape's eyes, and she thought that was just too personal to share, though her hesitation did not go unnoticed.

"What are you not telling us, Miss Granger?" Snape's stern yet darkly velvet voice spoke volumes, though it was barely above a whisper. Hermione couldn't stop the thoughts of the cavern again when he spoke. Would she always be reminded of it now? Why hadn't she made the connection before?

"Just that I haven't thought of that memory since I set foot onto Hogwarts, not once, and it's one of my favorite memories, Why now and not before?"

"I believe that its time for you to look into yourself, Miss Granger." Dumbledore said. "Remember the lessons you learned that day — the way to conquer your fear of being alone in the dark, as well as the beauty that lives in the darkness. Not all darkness is evil, Miss Granger. If you think back, I'm sure you would have remembered small insects or animals living in this cave?"

"Yes, now that you mention it. There was a fuzzy little creature with very big eyes, not much bigger than my index finger is now"

"And was this animal frightful to you?"

"I think it was more afraid of me then I was of it, especially when it ran off after my flashlight hit it."

"That is because this type of creature cannot stand light. Its eyes adapted to the darkness so it can survive. This doesn't make it evil; it is just only one of the creatures that happens to lives in that cave."

"This makes sense, sir. I guess what you're saying is if I can conquer the darkness as I have before, I would be able to control the mirror as I controlled my fear so long ago."

"Very good, Miss Granger. Now, I will not expect an answer from you tonight, but I do want Professor Snape to teach you how to focus your mind."

"When do we start, sir?" Hermione asked Snape shyly, the images of both him and the cavern still strong in her mind.

"Tonight!" the Headmaster said excitedly.

"Forgive me, Headmaster, but tonight is not good. I have young Mr. Weasley in detention this evening."

"Getting back in the swing of things so soon, Severus?" Albus gave the young man a knowing look. He knew Severus was dying to pay back young Ron for his treatment of Hermione ever since he tried to advance himself on her.

"Indeed," was all Snape said in reply to both the spoken and unspoken conversation he and the Headmaster was having.

Hermione tried but couldn't suppress a yawn that escaped her. Seeing this, Dumbledore shooed her away back to her common room with a warning not to talk to anyone about this. After she left, the Headmaster spoke only one line to Severus before sending him away as well.

"Remember, the Weasley boy was under the influence without his knowledge."

"Don't worry, Albus, I will not kill the boy… yet." With that, the door closed behind the Potions Master.

Snape walked down the corridor to his dungeons, thinking of what he should do with Hermione. It seemed to him that she had made up her mind that she was going through with the Headmaster's horrid plan. There was only one way to find out: to pay her a visit as Mistoffelees. Looking up at the clock, he noticed it was still early — he had another hour and a half before Mr. Weasley's detention, so he took off his outer robes and opened a window. Within moments, a jet black raven took to the sky.

A/N: Evil cliff I know, what can I say I'm evil but HEY YOU GOT ANOTHER CHAPTER SO SOON!! Ron is going to get his!! Ohhh trust my twisted little head! I've been told I'm a natural when it comes to devious plans.

and have a Happy Hollidays to everyone!!

And thanks again to my wonderful Beta, June


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I do not own HP though I wish I had a Snape of my very own, but until that time ill barrow hers! LOL

The Raven

By: Bree McGregor

A/N: HAPPY NEW YEAR Everyone!!! hehehe just after midnight 2007' and to celabrate RONS DETENTION WOOHOO!!!! on with the story!

Chapter 10

Hermione didn't stay in the common room very long. It was crowded and noisy with people laughing and talking, when all she wanted to do was to sit and think about everything she had seen. She wished she could talk to someone about what she was going through, but Dumbledore's warning rang in her ear. She would not betray his trust in her by talking to her friends.

She was so deep in thought she didn't hear the tapping on her window. Once she became aware of it, she opened the window, wondering why was she getting mail this time of night.

The bird flew in and made a circle around the room. It wasn't until he landed on the table in front of her that she recognized him.

"Mistoffelees!" Hermione would have hugged the bird if she didn't think she would hurt him. She had to remind herself that he wasn't sturdy like Crookshanks, so she took to kissing him the top of his head instead. "Oh, I'm so glad you came back!"

'She kissed me!?' he thought dizzily.

A bit dazed the bird looked out the window to make sure it was still open.

"This is only a visit, I take it?"

The bird squawked an affirmative answer. This made Hermione laugh; she had always loved how intelligent the bird was.

"Well, I'm so glad you came to visit, especially now, when I have no one to talk to." Hermione sat back down on her bed, falling backward so she was lying on the bed looking up at the ceiling, then looked back at her feathered friend as she patted the mattress beside her. The bird glided gracefully to her side, then looked up at the girl before him wondering what was really on her mind, and if she might kiss him again.

"Shhh, don't tell anyone, Mistoffelees. I can't talk to my friends. Dumbledore warned me not to say anything to anyone, but I can't just keep it all inside. I'm even wondering if I should talk to you. Silly, I know, but it's just a feeling I have. Well, I guess if I only told you the gist of it, maybe it will be alright and I would not feel too guilty." Taking a deep breath, she opened her mouth — but nothing came out.

"Nope, this feeling is too strong. Not that I know what this feeling is or where it is coming from."

Snape was shocked that on some subconscious level she recognized him as not being what she saw. Even though she has not been trained yet to tell the difference, it did show she had enough strong sense of herself to listen to what most people would just brush off as some crazy thought. 'Perhaps there is hope for the young know-it-all yet,' he thought.

"Hmm, I guess I could just talk about Professor Snape with you. I'm sure that would be alright," she said pensively.

His head snapped toward her at these words. 'Oh gods, am I ready for this?' he thought to himself.

"Well, when I was in the headmasters office tonight, I was remembering something that happened to me when I was eight. Two cousins tricked me into going exploring with them into a cave, and they ditched me there. They left me in the dark with only a tiny flashlight. Anyway, I got over my fear and tried to find my way out. That's when I found the most beautiful cavern you can possibly imagine."

Snape's small eyes locked with hers as she spoke, and in his mind's eye he saw an image of the cavern clearly in her head. For a brief moment, he wondered how he could do Legilimency when he was in his Animagus form, but pushed it toward the back of his mind to think about later.

"When Professor Snape put his hand on my shoulder, I felt this extensive amount of heat from him. Funny, as one would think his skin would be cold. Anyway, I looked into his eyes, and all I saw was the deep darkness like when I was lost in the cave. I know I said that I no longer feared him, and it's true that I don't, but I never saw that deep into him before. Well, now the two images have somehow merged together. Every time I think of that cavern, I will think of Professor Snape's eyes, just as every time I look into his eyes I will see that cavern and remember everything is not what it seems. I know there is beauty inside of him; I always felt it, but tonight for the first time I saw it."

She looked over at the raven that now perched closer to her. She smiled at him, stroked his back affectionately, and shook her head.

"You probably think I'm crazy. I know I sure think that a lot!" She laughed at herself as the bird tilted his head to look at her.

The bird only looked at her without blinking. 'Did she really mean that? Did she look into my soul as she did the mirror?'

"That's not all, either. He warned me about getting lost within myself, and not to make decisions without seeing all the angles. He said that there are consequences seen and unseen, and that not only my life but my soul may be in danger as his once was."

'And still is,' he thought gloomily to himself. 'But at least she listened to me.'

"It was like he was trying to protect me, that he truly was concerned with my welfare. If it was anyone else I would understand, but he had been so closed for so long I wonder if he knew what he was doing — that he was showing a caring side of himself."

Too many thoughts ran around his head to make any sense of what was happening between them, but one thought stood out the most. Did he really show that much emotion that she could pick up on it so easily?

A soft knock at her door startled the two of them, making them break eye contact.  
"Who is it?" She called out.

"It's me, Harry. I was wondering if you wanted to say goodbye to Ron before we send him to his doom."

Hermione rolled her eyes at the overly dramatic way the boys dealt with Professor Snape. A sound behind her caught her attention. As she turned toward it, she saw out of the corner of her eye the flash of black feathers as Mistoffelees took flight out of her window. 'Great, Harry scared him away,' she thought as she took a deep breath. 'Might as well go down and see the dunderhead off.'

Snape flew back into his rooms, where he donned his teaching robes back on and gathered the necessities he would need for the evening's detention. Smiling evilly at his thoughts — 'Yes, let the punishment fit the crime' — he knew that this time of year was perfect for what he had planned. 'As they say, killing two birds with one stone.' Snape physically cringed as the pun skipped across his mind.

Exactly at 9:01, a knock sounded at the door.

"Enter!"

Mr. Ronald Weasley came timidly through his door looking like a little frightened field mouse being caught by the farmer's cat.

"You are late, Mr. Weasley. Sixty points from Gryffindor."

"Sixty!!"

"Yes, one point for every second you were late. Now shut up and listen, or it will very easily become more!" Snape knew he was being extremely unfair, but the thought of this boy touching Hermione did something to him that brought out his darker side.

"Follow me," he said, and with that he led the frightened boy out of the castle though the front doors, across the lawn, and into the Forbidden Forest. He never once looked back to see if the boy was following him. Snape knew he was there, though. He could hear the scuffling of the boy's feet, and the chattering of his teeth.

Neither said a word as they made their way deeper into the forest. Ron's teeth started chattering even more, for he recognized the area leading to Aragog's lair. 'Surely Snape isn't going there? He's not going to sacrifice me to the spider?!'  
he thought fearfully.

"Having a problem, Mr. Weasley?" Snape's cold voice ran out into the night in front of him.

"Wh-where are we going, s-sir?" asked Ron, as he looked around him in a paranoid state to see if any spiders were lurking nearby.

"Don't tell me you're afraid, Mr. Weasley. Not after all the daring adventures the golden trio has had to date."

"Well, s-sir, we are close to Aragog's lair, aren't we?"

"Yes, we are, but never fear, as they will not come to this part of the forest."

Even though the words should have sounded comforting, Ron couldn't help but feel uneasy with the almost evil tone that he heard in the Professor's voice.

"W-why is that?"

The Professor didn't answer his question at first, until they entered a rather large field that spread out before them. "This is why not. The acromantulas will never get close to this field." And with that he stepped into the field, looking around looking pleased with himself.

Snape took out a pair of gloves and a bandana, and handed them to the boy. He was quite tempted to not even give them to him, but he knew what Albus would do to him if he didn't at least offer them to the boy.

"Here, put on the gloves and wrap the bandana around your mouth."

"Why? Are the plants dangerous?"

"No, they're not. They are used in a medicinal potion that I make for Madam Pomfrey. It numbs the nerves so that the patient feels little or no pain while under extensive treatment."

"Why do I need these, then?" Ron asked as he pointed at the gloves and bandana.

"Safety procedures. You are a student and not a very good one at that, Mr. Weasley. So for your own good, take them, BOY." Snape had taught all the Weasley children, and he knew each one of their buttons. He knew what was going through the boy's mind, and the boy reacted exactly as Snape wanted him to.

"I'm as much as a man as you are!"

"No, little boy, YOU are NOT. Now take them!"

"No, thank you. If it's not going to kill me, then why use them!"

"Have it your way," Snape said with an air of indifference. If Ron was a bit smarter, he would have thought twice about his actions just by Snape's indifference alone. But as it was, he refused the gloves and bandana, and set to work via Snape's instructions on how to harvest the herbs.

At first, Ron felt a numbing in his fingertips, then down his hands and up his arms. He called over to Snape to ask if this is normal.

"You dunderhead!" Snape retorted. "Did I not tell you it was used for numbing a patent when injured! Of course, it is natural! Now get to work. We don't have all night!"

For the first hour, Ron gathered enough herbs to satisfy Snape's need. Snape thought the boy was such a dunce because he never even asked what herb he was gathering — not that Snape would tell him. Hiding an evil yet satisfied smirk, he led the boy back to his classroom for the second part of his detention.

"Now what you need to do is wash every one of the herbs. Get all the dirt and debris off of them GENTLY! Do not harm the herb itself. Then place them evenly on the racks to dry. They should dry quickly, so by the time you are done washing them, the first batch will be ready for you to ground and put into those marked containers on that table. Now I have papers to grade!" With that Snape turned his back and walked up to his desk. He sat down dramatically and began to grade papers, while watching Mr. Weasley from out of the corner of his eye.

Ron finished washing and grinding the herbs around midnight. He was angry that Snape had to check everything over five times before he allowed him to return to bed. The numbness had not bothered him for hours, and he could see why Madam Pomfrey wanted it so badly. This stuff would be great when you were hurt, you wouldn't feel a thing!

Snape, on the other hand, was laughing deep inside. 'Oh, that was too smooth! The stupid boy has no idea of what the side affects of that particular herb will do to him. His reputation with the ladies is about to come to a crashing halt!'

A/N: there you go June!!! I put in what you wanted most! She kissed the little birdie LOL! Thanks everyone for your wonderful reviews. I hope everyone had a wounderful holliday! And thanks again to my wonderful Beta extraordinaire June!


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I don't own it, I'm just borrowing it… please don't sue.

The Raven

By: Bree McGregor

Chapter 11

Hermione was nervously standing in front of Professor Snape in her first control lesson. She tried to tell herself that there was nothing to be afraid of; it was just a mirror — one of the Twin Demon Mirrors of the Soulless. Surely, Professor Snape would not let her soul be drawn into the void forever... good thing they're not using it in this exercise.

They had been practicing for about an hour. He would try to push her with a spell — nothing major, just a force that would knock her off her feet. Her job was to keep a protective field around her to prevent herself from being pushed over.

After a few times of landing on her backside, Hermione got the hang of focusing enough to control the impact. It was not so much that she was intent on learning it, as much as she was saving her tail bone from getting any more bruised then it already was.

"Again," Snape called when she successfully pushed back his spell. The first thing Hermione learned about working with Snape was that he was harder on her now then in Potions class. She counted at least ten "agains", fifteen "dunderheads", and seven "silly girls" since they started an hour ago.

Snape noticed that she was getting stronger with her focus, but he wasn't sure what she was focusing on to give her that control. He told her to concentrate on one object in her eyesight. He watched her close her eyes, and when she opened them again he was quite shocked to see a new light within them. He found himself mentally shaking his head clear throughout the past hour; for some reason her eyes were having quite an affect on him.

He cast the spell again. Again, she blocked and pushed it away, but — when he moved his hand to brush a strand of hair that fell across his face — he noticed her eyes followed the movement… 'Ah, so she is focusing on my hands,' he thought to himself. 'Clever, but not clever enough.'

"Again," he called, watching her eyes slowly open and focus… yes, she was focusing on his hands. He cast the spell with his wand in his right hand. Then, as she was about to push back, he made a movement with his left hand, casting a wandless spell to levitate an object just inside her peripheral vision.

Hermione was feeling proud of herself. She had discovered that if she focused on a part of Snape's body, there was no way she can lose focus as long as she could see him. She had always loved his hands, so that was the part of his body she chose… not to mention that staring at his other body parts would only distract her more.

She saw his hand give an eloquent movement, and thought she should know the meaning of it. Then, out of the blue, something caught her attention to her right, a movement of something was wasn't supposed to move. Without thinking, she broke off her focus on Snape's hands and looked to see what it was. At that moment, Snape strengthened the spell, and she suddenly flew backward across the room.

Hermione screamed out as she flew back a few feet onto the floor. Looking up, she saw that she was also disarmed, with her wand a few feet out of reach above her head.

Severus tried not to think about her sprawled out on the floor like that, her hair fanned around her like velvet… her breathing labored. How he longed to have her beneath him just like this… perhaps not so many clothes.

Before either could move, the door slammed open and someone called out. "HERMIONE!"

Harry was quite worried about Ron. He finally convinced him to see Madam Pomfrey about the numbing sensation he started having after his detention with Snape, a few days ago. Ron felt too embarrassed to go at first, but he finally went after he had a disastrous date with Lavender, who threatened to spread the knowledge of his inadequacy throughout the school.

Harry had a strong feeling Snape did this to Ron on purpose. He was now making his way down to the dungeons to make Snape tell him what he did to Ron and why!

He stood before the door of Snape's office, his hand raised to knock. Suddenly, he heard from the other side of the door a painful scream of a voice he knew only too well. Without even knocking, he threw open the door.

"HERMIONE!" Harry yelled, instantly furious at the sight before him.

He saw Hermione lying on the floor, as if she had been thrown down with some force. Her wand was laying a few feet away from her, with Snape towering over her, glaring at them both.

"OUT, POTTER!" Snape yelled at him, with his long finger pointed to the direction of the door.

Without saying a word, Harry walked up to Snape and punched him in the face.

Severus wasn't expecting a physical attack. He was thrown off balance and landed hard on the floor. Looking up at Harry with pure rage, he pulled out his wand and pointed it at the boy.

By this time Harry had his own wand out, and was now pointing it at Snape. Hermione knew she had to act fast. Grabbing her wand, she cast two spells simultaneously. 

"Expelliarmus!" She put enough force into the spell to knock Harry onto his arse on the floor, joining the two of them.

"Accio wands!" Catching both their wands with one hand, Hermione looked at Harry with disgust.

"Hermione, what the hell?" screamed Harry. "He was hurting you!"

"No, Harry! He was training me! I lost concentration, and the spell overpowered me. This was my fault, not Professor Snape's."

"Then explain about Ron!" Harry challenged.

"What's wrong with Ron?" Hermione asked suddenly concerned.

Harry noticed Snape getting up off the floor, and he did the same. Hermione remained seated on the floor, still not really sure if she wanted to get up. Her head still spun a bit from her fall. But when her mind cleared, she looked up at Snape, who had a hand out to her to help her up. As she took it, she noticed his cut lip and the start of a bruise on his left cheek.

"Harry!" she gasped. She turned from Snape once she was standing, and looked at her best friend. "You hit a teacher! You could be expelled! Just because you think he did something to Ron?"

"I thought he was hurting you!" defended Harry.

"Be that as it may," a voice came from the doorway.

All three jumped and looked over to see Professor Dumbledore standing there. The Headmaster's normally sparkling blue eyes were cold and harsh, giving Harry an impression of an Arctic glacier.

"Mr. Potter," Dumbledore wouldn't look at the boy as he spoke. "Please wait for me in my office. I will be there once I speak to Professor Snape. The password is 'Lemon Heads'." 

With one last glare at Snape, Harry stormed out of the dungeon. Dumbledore gave a soft sad smile to Hermione, and put out his hand expectantly.

"The wands please, Miss Granger," he said softly.

"Yes, sir. Sorry, sir." she spoke nervously as she gently placed both Snape's and Harry's wands into his awaiting hand.

"No need to be sorry, child. You did the right thing in stopping something tragic from happening. So how is the training going?" he asked, smiling softly.

"Well, sir, I still lose focus when a sound or movement catches my attention. I had lost my concentration, and the surge of energy threw me back. I guess I yelled. Harry must have heard me through the door. Thinking that I was hurt, he stormed in. I guess the scene he saw brought him to the conclusion that I was in danger, and, well…" 

"Well…?" One of Dumbledore's eyebrows lifted.

She glanced over at Snape. He was watching her closely, not bothering to clean up the blood that was drying on the corner of his mouth.

"He slugged Professor Snape," Hermione said dejectedly. She felt that she was betraying Harry, but she could not lie to the Headmaster, and Snape deserved the truth to be told — that he had been hit for something that was not his fault. Still, the fear of Harry being expelled was one of Hermione's greatest fears come true. And with only a few weeks left of school.

"Thank you, Miss Granger. If I can have a word with Professor Snape, please."

"Of course, sir," she said as she turned to leave, only to turn around once she reached the door. "Umm… Professor Snape, should I return later to finish our lesson, or should we take this up tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow will be fine, Miss Granger"

Dumbledore turned to him after she had closed the door and her footsteps faded away. His face had lost all traces of a smile.

"What did you do, Severus?"

"Meaning what, Headmaster?"

The use of his title was not lost on Albus. "The meaning of the hospitalization of one Ronald Weasley." Dumbledore didn't raise his voice, but Snape knew that the Headmaster was quite upset with him.

"I repeatedly offered the boy gloves and a bandana … three times, to be precise. I even demanded him to wear them, but the dunderhead refused all three times! So it's his bed; let him lie in it"

"What plant, Severus?"

"Staphysgria."

"That's a POISON, Severus! What were you thinking!"

"It's only a poison if swallowed." Snape didn't raise his voice, but he made his point clear with the deep tones of his voice.

The Headmaster quieted down to await an explanation he knew was forthcoming. 

"Trust me, it will not kill him. It will only make him impotent; unfortunately, the side effect is only temporary. The gods know that that family could use some control. You would think they were trying to start their own Quidditch team!"

"Severus," Albus said his name softly, but Snape got the hint.

"Well, it should wear off in a few months. There is nothing Madam Pomfrey can do until it works its way out of his system. He only harvested and washed the plant. I made sure he washed his hands thoroughly before he left, and he didn't at any time consciously or unconsciously ingest even a minute amount. Besides, keeping that Weasley away from the female population is not a bad idea."

Dumbledore knew he had been far too lenient on the boy. He had also been dreading Severus's retaliation on Ron, knowing the Slytherin's attachment to Hermione since the 'Raven days', when he not only saw Ron attack Hermione but also witnessed the aftermath on her emotionally. Personally, the Headmaster thought they were getting off quite easily, all things considered. 'At least the boy is in one piece,' he thought. Giving a deep sigh, he turned back to his Potions master.

"But impotence, Severus, really."

"Don't worry, Headmaster. As I said, it's only temporary. But as the old Muggle saying goes 'Let the punishment fit the crime.' I'm sure we will being having more redheaded Weasleys running around Hogwarts in due time to make my teaching here the equivalent of the seventh level of hell."

"Really, my boy! Oh, by the way, no more detentions with you. If you must give detentions, send them to Argus. Is that understood?"

"Yes, as you wish, Albus."

Dumbledore smiled at him and walked to the door. He was about to leave when he heard a question asked softly behind him.

"You are not going to punish or expel Potter, are you."

In truth it was more of a statement then a question, thought Albus.

"You know I can't, Severus. To have Harry Potter running around unsupervised, untrained, and without support is an inherently dangerous prospect."

"That I believe is the most intelligent thing I have ever heard you say, Albus. Upon that we agree."

Dumbledore looked back at his young friend and slipped out of his office, leaving the Potions Master to his own thoughts. Walking down the hall toward his own office where Mr Potter was waiting for him, he felt his years creep up on him. Truth be told, he was not looking forward to dealing with Harry's attitude, which just seemed to be getting more out of control

A/N: ok just to clear a few things up first! Staphysgria, is a poison if swallowed. It is normally used in such as post-surgical incisions and is used to heal wounds and incisions, how it does that is by numbing the nervous system. It's a very dangerous drug if swallowed.

And again to my Beta June… you're great!


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: If I were JK Rowling, I would not still be in Arkansas.

The Raven  
Chapter 12

Severus Snape sat behind his desk, trying to stop the bleeding of his now broken nose. He stopped holding the cloth to his nose when he noticed that the bleeding had finally stopped, but the pain still lingered along with his anger at Harry Bloody Potter. If Hermione hadn't take their wands when she did, there would have been casualties.

He took out a small silver mirror to examine his face. Sighing deeply, he started to use his wand to fix his nose when a soft knock came at his door.

"Enter," he uttered in an angry tone. He hated being disturbed when he had to deal with something he didn't want to deal with in the first place. 

Looking up, he saw Hermione Granger standing there, holding a damp clean cloth in her hand.

"Go away," he snarled as he once again picked up his wand and mirror.

"I wouldn't do that, if I were you," she said softly when she noticed what he was about to do. She quietly walked up to him and removed the mirror from his hand.

"Didn't I tell you to leave?" He glared at her and tried to retrieve his mirror that she kept just out of reach. He gave her a cold glare so she would take the hint and leave him alone, but she only smiled sweetly at him.

"Did you? I didn't quite catch that, sorry," she said as she lifted the clean cloth to his face to wipe off the dried blood.

Snape quickly reached up and grabbed her wrist, stopping her from finishing. He leaned closer to her in a threatening manner, as his eyes locked with hers. 

"I do not need your or anyone's help, Miss Granger!" 

Even though his voice was cold, it still felt like dark silk sliding across her skin. Hermione swallowed hard, trying to keep her heart from beating out of her chest. She prayed that he didn't notice the jump in her heart rate, since his fingertips now rested on her inner wrist, burning every atom of her skin where he was touching.

"I . . . I know. That is why I'm helping." Suddenly becoming shy, she lowered her gaze to look anywhere but in his penetrating eyes. Unfortunately, her gaze only went as far as his lips.

"Are you telling me you wanted to help me _because_ I don't want help? How very Gryffindor of you." He sneered.

Hermione didn't even hear his words. She was aware of only the silky texture of his voice, and the sensual movements of his mouth.

Snape noticed all this, as well as the suddenly rapid beating of her pulse beneath his fingertips. Disgusted at his own lack of control, he still found himself staring at her lips in turn.

"Well, Miss Granger?" he whispered as he leaned closer to her.

"Hmmm?" Her gaze still locked onto his lips; only on a basic level did she even know he had spoken to her. All she wanted to know was whether his lips were warm or hard, soft or cold; and mostly, what did they taste like?

She had to know. As if pulled by an invisible force, she leaned closer to him, as at the same time he leaned closer to her. Both of them were only a breath away from unlocking all the mysterious knowledge that was held within a single kiss.

Hermione half-closed her eyes and took an airless breath in anticipation. Snape tried to reason with himself why this should not be happening, but all thought left his mind as he heard her whispered breath. All he wanted to do was crush his lips to hers, and just before that last inch, all his control broke.

**_KNOCK! KNOCK!_**

Snape and Hermione jumped back and away from each other, as if burned. They were looking at each other wide-eyed, and breathing hard from the sudden intrusion of reality.

**_KNOCK! KNOCK!_**

Taking a deep breath, Hermione moved to the front of his desk as he called out.

"Enter!" His voice was harsh and angry, not only with the interloper but also at himself. He had almost kissed a student, for Merlin's sake!

Madam Pomfrey came bustling into the Potions master's office.

"I just ran into Albus," she said as she stormed up to Snape. Looking down at his desk, she saw his mirror, wand and a bloody cloth. She put her fingers under his chin and made him turn his face to and fro, as she would have done to a reluctant child.

"Well, I see I have come just in time to prevent you from trying to mend your broken nose yourself . . . again, and we both know how that went last time."

"Last time?" Hermione questioned.

"Yes, last time." The school nurse picked up the clean cloth and smelled the mixture of herbs that clung to it. "Your doing, I take it," she said, looking at Hermione.

"Yes, Madam Pomfrey."

The older witch only nodded, and turned back to Severus.

"Well, Severus, let's get this over with. The sooner you stop squirming, the sooner I'm done with you."

"Woman, I do NOT squirm," he snapped at her, as she took her wand out of her apron pocket. 

"Don't you 'Woman' me! I have been patching you up most of your entire life. Now shut up and sit still." Her recalcitrant patient had a demanding and take-charge personality, but right now she wasn't taking no for an answer.

Madam Pomfrey expertly performed a few examination spells, making sure there was no internal damage, before she fixed his broken nose.

"There now, all done. That wasn't so hard, was it?"

Snape only grunted as an answer.

"Come along, Miss Granger; nothing to do here now, and it's also curfew. If I remember correctly, you do not have patrol this evening, so off to your dormitory, and we shall leave this grumpy man to his own devices."

Harry sat before Professor Dumbledore's huge desk, waiting for the Headmaster to arrive. He looked around anxiously, trying to calm his nerves. There were fewer gadgets and gizmos then before his temper tantrum a few years back. Sighing, he gave himself a few moments to feel guilty for his actions that day.

A gold glimmer caught his eye, and he got up to investigate. The glimmer was from a frame that was covered in a black cloth, so it almost looked like the shadow itself.

With a gentle push, the cloth easily slipped off to settle into a pool on the floor, revealing a gold-leaf frame; it was nice, but nothing too special. The frame was only about one square foot; and if it was hanging on the wall, Harry doubted if anyone would even see it there.

His curiosity was growing by the minute. What was it about this mirror that made it so special that it was not only in the Headmaster's office, but _hidden_ in the Headmaster's office?

About then, another idea hit him about the mirror. The glass was black, and upon closer inspection he couldn't see his reflection within it. _'What kind of mirror doesn't give off any kind of reflection,'_ he thought to himself.

Before he could even think of moving away from the mirror, his mind was caught up in a series of memories.

The first memory was of a flash of deadly green light, and a scream that he knew to be his mother's; grief washed over him so strongly that he was amazed that he was still standing. The second memory that came was when his cousin Dudley and his gang would chase him down the street, while Harry was living with the Dursleys. Then, before the angry feeling overcame him, another memory came, this one more pleasant. It was the day Hagrid came to tell him that he was a wizard and he was going to a new life, then the memories of when he first met Ron and Hermione. The memories were rapidly hitting him one after another, each emotion blending into the next, to the point of feverish pitch. Breathing hard, Harry wondered if he could take much more of this.

"I think that is enough for now, Harry." A soft voice came to him, as the spell was broken when the black cloth was placed over the mirror once again.

Shaking his head, Harry turned to see the Headmaster looking at him with an indescribable look.

Feeling guilty for being caught doing something he wasn't suppose to do yet again, he hung his head and went back to his seat before Dumbledore's desk.

Dumbledore sat down behind his desk and templed his fingers, never taking his eyes off Harry.

"Well, Harry, it seems that again we find ourselves wondering what to do with you," he said sadly.

"I'm sorry about the mirror sir, I . . . I didn't know what it was."

"Yes, well, it was hidden back there for a reason, Harry. If you had looked into it too long, your spirit and your mind would have been sucked into it."

Harry gasped, shocked that such a simple mirror could be so dangerous.

"But that is not all that I was talking about, Harry." He gave him a pointed look over his moon-shaped glasses. "I'm sure you know what I'm speaking of"

"Snape." Harry said the name as if it left a bad taste in his mouth.

"Professor Snape, Harry. Please kindly remember that." Though Dumbledore's voice was soft, there was a cold demanding undercurrent.

"Yes, sir, but it sounded like he was killing her; that scream sounded so painful! What should I have done, just leave her there?"

"No, Harry, that is not what I'm saying. It is good that you would come to a friend's aid when you think they are in peril, but you MUST work on your reactions… you MUST learn to _respond_ to situations, not just _react_ blindly."

Sighing deeply, Harry didn't quite know how to respond. He knew that he had overreacted, and by all circumstances he should be expelled.

"Now, Harry, what do you think your punishment should be?"

"Well, I guess if I were you, I would expel me."

"Do you wish to be expelled, Harry?"

"No, sir, I do not."

"Then why do you always get into situations that force my hand to do just that? Do you know how many of my own rules I have had to break to keep you within these walls?"

"N-no, sir."

"Far too many, but that is neither here nor there." Dumbledore motioned his hand as if he was dismissing the subject like a pesky fly of no consequence. 

"I am not going to expel you, Harry."

Harry looked up in shock and relief, even though he knew that Dumbledore wouldn't send him back to the Dursleys' so soon; he knew they needed him to defeat Lord Voldemort, a task which they all believed that only he could do. This gave him a little more leeway to get what he wanted, not that he abused it too badly, or so he believed.

"But your actions today will not go unpunished."

Many ideas ran though Harry's mind on what that punishment would be. Perhaps a life sentence of working for Filch, or having Quidditch taken away from him. Or having to clean all the school bathrooms with his toothbrush. . . without magic. That idea came from a Muggle show he saw on TV during the summer.

"Have you ever heard of the saying 'let the punishment fit the crime,' Harry?"

"Y-yes, sir… Umm, does that mean that you're going to let Snape hit me, sir?"

"No, Harry." Dumbledore gave a little chuckle. "What I am going to suggest is that you remain here after graduation."

Harry's face broke out in a wide grin. 

"But before you get too happy, you have to go under extreme training. Some of the professors and I even invited a few more instructors to join us. You will be going though your toughest training to date."

Harry nodded, looking forward to what he thought would be what he had wanted since the beginning.

"But sir, may I ask why that would be a punishment?"

"Well, you see, Harry, I am going to be gone for about a month or more during the summer; the information of where and why is not of your concern. The next person in line to oversee Hogwarts would be Professor McGonagall, but she is accompanying me on this trip. That leaves Professor Snape, who will be in authority."

Harry's jaw hit the floor. "But, but sir, how can you trust him? With you gone and Snape in control, Voldemort would take over Hogwarts easily."

"I am not going to tell you again; it's PROFESSOR SNAPE. Now, Harry, I trust Professor Snape even more than I trust you. And you WILL follow his instructions as if they were my own, is that clear?" The Headmaster's voice did not leave room for arguments.

"Yes, sir, very clear." Harry's face was downcast in despair from the very thought of spending the summer under his most hated professor. 

"But you will not be alone. Miss Granger has decided to postpone going to college to remain and train as well. The Weasley clan will also be around from time to time. They all will not be here all the time, but they too are going though the vigorous training sessions this summer as well."

Harry cheered up a little bit, but then another thought came to him. . .

"I feel there is something more here, sir."

"Very perceptive of you, Harry. Yes, as punishment you will be an assistant of sorts to the professor in command. This means you MUST do what they tell you to do. So if Professor Snape wants you to wash the bathrooms with your toothbrush without magic, you will do so without complaint."

In shock, Harry looked at Dumbledore's sparking blue eyes. . . _'How does he do that?!'_ thought Harry. _'It's too creepy.'_

"Oh, yes,before I forget, you will also help with some less then desirable tasks for Madam Pomfrey. We will discuss this later; you are free to return to your dormitory, and Harry - no detours this time, please." With that, he turned to some paperwork on his desk.

Harry knew that this was all the Headmaster was going to say. He counted his lucky stars that he was not going to be expelled, even though it was so close to final exams.

A/N: I would like to thank June, the ohhh Great and Powerful (not to mention patient) Beta on the planet! Also a BIG thanks to all my friends that reviewed! Thank you for your patience and understanding. This chapter is for all of you


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter universe, nor do I own Snape… I just admire him a lot. Hey, I don't even own a mouse! I make no money; my payment is my reviews as long as there good ones :D

The Raven  
Chapter 13

Hermione sat in her favorite spot in the library – a nice sunny spot next to a window toward the back of the room. Her finals were now over, and she was again skimming the questions and her answers, to see if she got anything wrong.

"Oh, how could I be so stupid! It was 4.38 percent, and not 4.39."

"Hermione, only you would complain about 0.01 percent on a question. I'm sure the teacher will let that slide," Ron said as he and Harry came to sit at her table.

"No, he will not. Professor Gross is very, very picky about such things."

"Yes," replied Harry. "There is only one question that comes to mind when I see that guy"

"Only one?" asked Ron sarcastically.

" Yes... is anal retentive spelled with a hyphen?"

Hermione burst out laughing, while Ron just had a dumbfounded look on his face that sent both Harry and Hermione into uncontrollable fits of laughter. This behavior subsequently got all three kicked out of the library, with Madam Pince mumbling about seventh year students and their lack of manners after taking their last tests.

All three friends walked outside to enjoy the sunshine, and the relaxation of the early afternoon.

"So, Hermione, are you really going to bypass college and study here?"

"Yes, Ron. There are things we need to prepare for with the coming war with Voldemort."

"You should come to the Burrow and relax some too, you know. We will be here from time to time, but not always. Harry is spending a few weeks with us as well."

"Yes. Professor Dumbledore, Mr. Weasley and I have been working on some new warding spells to safeguard the Burrow. I believe one spell was even your design, Hermione," Harry informed her, as they all sat down under a tree overlooking the lake.

"Yes, the Headmaster asked if he could use the Aquaminor spell. Of course I said yes; I haven't seen anyone who could say no to him, have you?"

"Not in this lifetime," Ron answered.

All three turned their heads when a movement caught their eyes. Professor Dumbledore was stepping out of the Forbidden Forest, looking like he had just came back from a Sunday stroll.

"Man, isn't he afraid of anything?" Ron complained, as his own fears of the forest surfaced.

"I'm sure he does feel fear, Ron."

"Yes," added Harry. "Just not physical ones."

"What do you mean by that, Harry?" asked Ron.

"Well, I know he is afraid of what will happen to innocent people when Voldemort comes calling again, but I don't believe he fears too much when it comes to man, nor beast. So I guess you can call it an emotional fear, which in my book is a lot scarier then being afraid of something."

"That is very wise, Harry," said Professor Dumbledore as he walked up to the three young people sitting in the shade of a tree. He smiled warmly at them as he looked around, acting as if he'd never seen the spot before. "What a lovely spot to relax after all the stress of studying and test-taking."

"Yes it is, Professor," replied Hermione. "Is there anything we can help you with?"

"Why how thoughtful, Miss Granger. As a matter of fact, there is." He beamed innocently at them, a look that none of them were buying.

"Miss Granger, if I can persuade you to help me on a matter?"

"Certainly, Professor." Getting up off the ground, she turned to her friends. "I'll see you two later."

After they all said their goodbyes, she left Harry and Ron to talk amongst themselves.

"So I see that you and Mr. Weasley have come to an agreement," said Professor Dumbledore once they were out of earshot.

"Yes, we are still kind of awkward, but I understand that it wasn't all Ron's fault, and I still am planning on putting a small spell on both Fred and George the next time I see them."

"Oh, are you now? Anything I should be worried about?" The Headmaster looked at her with that twinkle in his eyes as if to say he already knew all about it. Admittedly, that was possible, since she had shared her plans with Professor Snape the day she found out about the twins' involvement.

"No, not really. We'll just say 'let the punishment fit the crime,' shall we," she replied with her own wicked twinkle.

"Well, let's not let things get carried away this time."

"Of course, Professor. There are a few others involved, and between us I'm sure we can prevent anything disastrous from happening, but I am hoping it will be HIGHLY EMBARRASING."

They both chuckled a bit before he approached another subject.

"Professor McGonagall tells me that your Animagus forms are coming along nicely."

"Yes, Professor. I have been trying hard between assignments for both Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape, then with studying for the finals. I'm starting to I feel a little stretched thin at times, so if this is about my blow-up with Seamus, I would like to apologize to you even though I have apologized to him already, along with helping him study for his finals."

"Yes, I wanted to speak to you about Seamus, and also to tell you that you need to rest some as well. Even though it is just a testament to your strength, we don't need you collapsing from exhaustion before the war even starts."

"I understand that, Professor. That's why Harry, Ron and I were out here relaxing."

"Ah, and here I am taking you away from all of that. But I'm sorry to say this cannot be helped."

"What is wrong, Professor Dumbledore?"

"Well, there is nothing immediately wrong, but it can grow to become so. Let's wait until we get to my office, shall we?" he said as they walked through the huge front doors of Hogwarts.

Professor Snape paced back and forth across the Headmaster's office, holding his hands behind his back. His knuckles were pure white from pulling against each other in his stress.

"Severus, please sit down. You are making me nervous just watching you." Professor McGonagall sat still in her high-back chair before the hearth that was silent, having no fire roaring within. Her hands were resting in her lap as if there was nothing to be nervous about; the only evidence of her distress was a small tapping of her left pinky finger over the back of her right hand.

"How can you just sit there all calm? Are you not afraid that Albus will find no answers? Do you realize that the Centaurs very well may not say anything to him? He did take in Firenze, and they're still not happy about that."

"I very well know that, Severus, but worrying about like this will help no one."

"This is very true, Minerva," said Professor Dumbledore as he stood by the front door to his office. "And I did get some information from the Centaurs, since their new leader was a little more open then the last one, who turned against them to work with Lucius Malfoy."

The Headmaster walked into his office with Hermione just behind him. They seated themselves.

"Albus, what is she doing here?" called out Professor Snape, still standing, afraid of what her presence meant.

"She is here to help us," he replied calmly, as if he didn't know the real reason for Severus's outburst. The Headmaster had known of the Potions master's attraction to the young woman for some time, and was quite impressed with that man's willpower to not act on his feelings. At least on a physical level, nothing could be said about his lack of self-control; verbally, Severus did express himself when he was angry with the Headmaster for pulling the girl into yet another dangerous experiment. Albus knew that they were relying on her far too much even for his liking, but to win they must use all that was in their grasp, and fortunately they just happened to have not only the smartest witch in decades, but a very brave one at that.

"She is doing enough! We cannot keep asking her to go out and risk herself. We need her here!"

"Professor Snape, with all due regard, I volunteered to do all that I have done so far," Hermione said, looking him in the eye. "No one pushed me into it, and I have no desire to sit back and let everyone do the fighting. And if I may be so bold, your twenty-plus years of spying, with the risk of being found out at every turn, were and will be far more then what I can ever give."

The dark-haired wizard met her gaze. Truth be told, he was warmed by her words about his own sacrifices, but then he thought of her going though some of the very things he did, and his anger with the entire situation returned.

"Yes, and I was found out, you silly little girl!" He didn't raise his voice, but he did move closer to her until he was bending down almost nose-to-nose with her. "And we all know what happened with that!"

"Enough of this" said Dumbledore calmly, but forcefully. "Yes, we have been asking much of Miss Granger, but we need all the abilities that our members have at our disposal. It's just that she happens to be more gifted then most."

Hermione grew proud with his words. She wanted to help, even though her secretly beloved professor was against it.

"Now, Miss Granger, Professor McGonagall tells me that you have two forms now with your Animagus training?"

"Yes, sir."

"I was planning on taking her to get registered after the test scores came out," added Professor McGonagall.

"Please hold out on that, Minerva. I think I want her unregistered at this time."

"Really, Albus!" Professor McGonagall huffed at him.

The Headmaster turned again to Hermione.

"It's not like we don't have any unregistered Animagi working for us; one more will not hurt." Turning to Hermione, he smiled warmly. "May we see them, please?" he asked her kindly.

Hermione had seen this coming and was already meditating on her smaller form; she nodded affirmatively as she pulled out her wand to transform.

Before the professors now sat a cute little brown mouse that seemed to have red highlights in its fur, much like Hermione's own hair color.

Professor Snape picked her up, carrying her while trying to ignore the warm nuzzling she was giving to his palm. He placed her onto a table so they all could see her clearly. The mouse-Hermione missed the warmth of Snape's hands, and began looking around the room once upon the table.

"Her fur is the color of her hair, all except for the tip of her tail that is pure white," the Headmaster observed.

"Yes, it's a much telling trait. Unfortunately, her other form also has that color trait. I believe that all the forms she will master will have the same coloring, highly marking that the animal is an Animagus.

"What do you mean by 'all the forms she will master'? What is going on here!" demanded Professor Snape.

"Well, Severus, it seems that Miss Granger here is one of those unique people who can transform into more then one creature. You see, an Animagus can only choose a single form that they are comfortable with," explained Professor McGonagall.

"And it seems that Miss Granger's compassions run deep with many different animals, even ones that are suppose to be enemies with one another," finished Professor Dumbledore, as he watched Hermione run around the table, wiggling her cute nose in the air.

"I wish to do a small experiment," said the Headmaster as he turned to look intensely at Severus.

"Why are you looking at me like that, Albus?"

"Would you please transform into your Animagus form, Severus?"

"No!" Severus said, looking deep into the old man's eyes. He saw what was there. Not only did the Headmaster want to see if he could fly while holding her, Albus wanted her to see him in his raven form. Albus had came to him a few days ago, telling him to let Hermione know that he was the raven she had taken care of for a few months. Severus didn't want her to know for several different reasons, chiefly because then he could not visit her anymore, and he also feared her reaction to knowing that it had been him all along. Sleeping in her room, sitting on her shoulder as she walked her rounds, listening to her secrets…

"Severus, that is not the answer I want to hear… Now, get on with it!"

Taking a deep breath, Severus started to concentrate on his Animagus form. The room was extremely quiet – until his transformation was complete.

"Seakup!" a startled sound from a small mouse upon a table.

A/N: I would like to take some time to thank June yet again. I just finished this chapter sent it to her around 10:30 at night and got it back within an hour WOOHOO girl, you rock


	14. Chapter 14

The Raven   
Chapter 14

Disclaimer: I do not own anyone or anything in this fanfiction… sigh Sucks to be me. becuase it belongs to JK Rowling!

Black beady unblinking eyes bore right into a pair of wildly fearful ones. Snape watched her like the bird he was, waiting – almost challenging her to make a move, and that was what Hermione was contemplating. All her little mouse mind could think of was RUN! But her body would not listen. She needed to get out of there, as far and as fast as she could. She couldn't believe it – Mr. Mistoffelees – her "pet raven" Mistoffelees was none other then SNAPE! Oh, the humiliation of it all!

All her most private moments with Mistoffelees came flashing back into her mind. Mistoffelees had been there when Ron attacked her, and when she cried over how the other students mistreated her. If she wasn't in her mouse form right now, she knew she would have been beet red from the curls on top of her head to the tips of her toes. The memory of the night she learned that Snape was dead… she'd called out his name!

How she longed to just curl up and die, never to see the light of day again. How she could be so stupid… she couldn't have guessed the bird was him because no one told her… WAIT! They knew! Dumbledore knew all along!

She turned her angry eyes to the old wizard, who seemed not to be fazed by the wrath he saw there. Well, his eyebrow did rise a bit when he heard a low angry growling sound from the small mouse.

Snape was just watching her eyes change rapidly with each emotion. He understood the shock and her anger, but what fascinated him was how cute she looked when her memories focused on that night… the night he realized she felt the same way about him as he did for her. His feelings for the girl had only grown stronger during his stay with her. If a raven could smirk he would have. He could almost see her mouse fur turn a deeper red then it originally was.

Dumbledore's eyes lost some of their sparkle under Hermione's heated gaze. Having an enraged female – no matter what species they were at the moment – was not something he enjoyed dealing with. Soon he had an angry Potions master glaring at him as well.

"So let's try a little experiment, shall we?" Dumbledore said a little too cheerily. "Severus, I would like to see if you can carry her while flying around the room, and for how long."

"SQUEAK!" screamed the mouse as she jumped off the table and made a mad dash to a break in the wall. She didn't and couldn't think; she just reacted. She just couldn't be near him, let alone carried by him… not right now.

Snape transformed back into his human form, raised his wand and lazily threw a spell.

_'Almost there… freedom,'_ she thought as her little mouse legs pumped faster to bring her ever closer to the wall. Only a few centimeters more to go, then her world stopped dead. Her legs were frozen in position; the muscles still tensed and her breathing was still heavy, but her body would not move.

Snape walked over and scooped up the once-fleeing mouse.

"Well, that was unexpected," said Professor McGonagall.

"Not at all, Minerva," replied the Headmaster. "Severus had been living with her for the past few months as a raven; I'm sure she is quite embarrassed at this point."

"That's right. He was there during the Weasley incident," McGonagall said thoughtfully.

Snape looked down at the mouse in his hands. It was giving him a look that said _'they don't know the half of it.'_ Snape smirked at her ever so slightly, so that only she could see it.

_'What the…? Snape smiled… at ME!'_ her mind screamed.

Snape absentmindedly started to pet her furry head, his hand's rhythmic motions putting her to sleep easily.

Dumbledore observed his Potions master and the contented look upon his face as he stroked the furry little bundle in his hands. A thought crossed his mind for the millionth time these past few months, that perhaps Miss Granger could heal the gloomy young man that he thought of as a son.

"Albus?" Professor McGonagall spoke softly, also noticing the look on Snape's face. "Well, it seems…"

Just then the door opened and Professor Flitwick stepped in, levitating a stack of papers that was taller then he was.

"Here you go, Headmaster," the Charms professor said as he levitated the stack onto his desk. "All graduating students' test scores, in alphabetical order."

"Thank you, Filius." Dumbledore turned back to Snape as Professor Flitwick closed the door and left the room.

"Well, as I was saying, Severus, I think it's time you and Miss Granger had a little chat."

Snape turned to walk out the door, still holding the now sleeping mouse.

"Oh, and one more thing, Severus: I'm going to approve Miss Granger's request to become intern to the Potions Department."

"What!" Snape's eyes became wide. He didn't realize Albus was looking to replace him, nor did he know that she'd applied for the job.

"Yes, she came to me, saying that she wanted to continue and become a Potions mistress. She also felt that you could use the help trying to set that department back on track since Professor Gross left it in such a horrid state."

Snape cringed just thinking about the job before him. What that man did to his Potions office and classroom was nothing if not sacrilegious to the art of potion making. Thank Merlin that Professor Gross didn't get past his wards to his personal lab.

"Of course I was going to talk to you about it first, but I can't think of anyone better to help you in this task." Seeing that Snape was about to throw a fit, the Headmaster brought out his trump card. "Also, Miss Granger can grade papers during the school year; this will leave you time for more important experiments."

Snape narrowed his eyes, studying the crafty old man, who was wearing a smug smile on his face – the same smug smile as always when he knew he got what he wanted. Snape knew that the Headmaster was aware that there were experiments and other projects he'd wanted to do for years now, but with his spying and teaching there was never time. Now it seemed the old man thought of everything and Snape could now have one of the things his heart desired: research time. It was tempting.

"Very well," Snape said though his clenched teeth, and turned on his heel and left them standing there. The sleeping mouse in his hands never woke up.

Snape took his private pathways though the castle to reach the dungeons without being seen. He lifted all his wards to his personal chambers before entering. Looking around, he didn't know what to do with Hermione, and he didn't have the heart to wake her. The poor girl just had one of the biggest shocks of her life!

He placed Hermione's small mouse form on his large bed, admiring how her reddish-brown fur contrasted to the deep green of his velvet comforter. Pulling out his wand, he gave it a flick of his wrist to turn her back into her original human form.

Looking down at her sleeping peacefully, he couldn't help noticing how thick her eyelashes were as they rested on her pale skin. He also noticed that a few strands of hair were lying across her face. Leaning down, he brushed the strands back to where they belonged. He marveled that her skin was as smooth as it looked. Looking at her soft pink lips, he also wondered what she would do if she woke up to him kissing her. He knew he had to move away from her, or he would do just that, but for some reason he couldn't bring himself to leave her. Things were much simpler when he was her pet raven Mistoffelees; she kissed him then.

Looking at the sleeping young woman before him, the temptation to kiss her was intense, but then he thought of the look she most likely would give upon waking up to that. Backing away from the temptation, he left Hermione in his bedroom and retreated to his living room to think. He thought that retreating was for the best since Hermione had been through a few too many things today as it was. He needed her to be calm and not in hysterics when he talked to her.

His spying days were now over, but this by no means meant his life was any safer. On the contrary, now that the Death Eaters knew he was a live traitor, there would be a big price on his head, and he did not want to drag Hermione into all of that.

_'She's already involved,'_ said the voice in his head – that annoying but truthful voice. _'She too has a price on her head all of her own.'_

He knew better than anyone that he was on the Dark Lord's top five hit list of enemies to be brought in alive or dead. Amazingly enough, Potter was not on the list; the Dark Lord wanted to kill Potter personally. Potter's death wasn't enough for the twisted madman; no, he wanted revenge for all the years of exile before his bodily return. Voldemort wanted to take away everything that meant anything to Potter, to make Potter suffer as he had.

Snape had personally talked Voldemort out of attacking the Dursleys, saying that Potter would most likely send him a thank-you note if he knew where to send it. Having hated his own Muggle father and his Muggle grandparents, the Dark Lord understood this logic perfectly.

Hermione was another story. The Dark Lord wanted the girl dead not only for just being a Muggle-born or for being one of the most talented students to grace the halls of Hogwarts, and amazingly enough not really for being Potter's friend and adviser, though all these factors did add into it. No, the real deep-rooted reason that Voldemort wanted Hermione dead was because she looked like a girl he had been attracted to when he attended Hogwarts.

Two months before his true loyalty was found out by Pettigrew, Snape was alone with the Dark Lord, making sure he had everything he needed since all the other Death Eaters were gone on another raid. Usually, Voldemort stayed alone, but just before this raid a Death Eater by the name of Silverton tried to poison him. Nothing so mundane as poison would harm the man, if "man" was even a word that could be used to describe Voldemort anymore, and the things Voldemort did to Silverton as punishment before killing him were certainly not human.

On the night that Snape was ordered to remain behind, out of the blue Voldemort started to talk about Miss Granger. At first Snape thought that Voldemort was doing it just to see what his reaction was, scoping him out on his feelings for the girl who was his student, but soon it was obvious as the Dark Lord talked that he wasn't paying any attention to Snape at all, but was lost in his own memories.

From what Voldemort told him, the girl's name was Sadie McGregor, the youngest daughter of a Scottish lord, who was also very influential in the wizarding world. She was a Ravenclaw and at the top of her class. Her hair was longer then Hermione's, reaching down closer to her waist, but was just as unruly, and she too liked to wear it free. 

Sadie had returned Tom Riddle's feelings, and always called him the Slytherin rogue. Tom being a Slytherin, the name "rogue" didn't bother him or her in the slightest, and it only made her laugh when she thought about it. Both her parents were Gryffindors during their Hogwarts' days. It was her father who tore Sadie and Tom apart. Lord McGregor didn't approve of Tom since he was not of proper birth, and her father pulled her out of Hogwarts halfway though their seventh year. Later Tom learned that Sadie's father forced her to marry against her will, and that husband had killed her six months after their wedding.

Snape remembered the cold shiver that passed though him as the Dark Lord laughed that night when he spoke of how he dealt with not only the murdering husband, but Sadie's father as well. Snape feared that in some sick way Voldemort may have wanted to pursue Hermione as a substitute for Sadie, but then he spoke of the differences between the two girls, and how Granger had a wicked stubborn streak in her; to break it was to kill her, and kill her he would. Voldemort softly added that no matter what, history always repeats itself.

LOVE YA, JUNE! Great job as always! And so much has happened to me as of late. (Thank you to the people who reviewed...) I loved hearing from you all, chapter 15 is on the way... but knowing my life thats not saying much... but I will TRY to get it out here soon!

Thank you so much for all of your understanding


	15. Chapter 15

Disclaimer: It's not mine. It all belongs to JKRowling.

Chapter 15

The first thing that Hermione realized upon waking up was that she was in her human form. Professor McGonagall had stressed enough times the importance of an Animagus understanding the nature of one's other side, or sides in Hermione's case. She didn't know how many other animal forms she could take. Hermione had only experimented with four so far and they all worked, to the shock and dismay of Professor McGonagall, who seemed to think that this was one of those rare cases. But Hermione had this deep-rooted feeling that it was really a lot deeper than just Animagus mutation. She just didn't know what.

Looking around the room she was in, she realized she was not in her own room. This room was eloquently decorated with books lining every shelf and surface. To most people it would look like disarray, but Hermione was familiar with this kind of organized chaos since her room at home wasn't much better. The comforter she was laying on was the most beautiful green color, like that of a forest after a light rain. She spent about five minutes just running her hands over the crushed velvet, feeling the decadent texture.

Snape stood in the deep shadows of the room, watching her slowly awake. He was impressed that she did not show fear or surprise that she was back in her human form. Then he saw her looking at his books, and he was happy that her eyes sparkled at them. He knew of her love of books, which mirrored his own, and he longed to share them with her, but never had the chance before.

Then he saw her lie back down on the bed. He felt sad that he would be unable to talk to her, but then he saw she was not going to sleep: instead, she was just running her hands over the velvet comforter.

"I did that quite a bit myself when I first bought it," he said as he stepped out of the shadows.

"Oh!" Hermione bolted up into a sitting position instantly.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," Snape said as he walked up to the bed and sat on the edge of it to look at her.

"Th-this is your room?"

"Yes, the last time I looked." He looked into her eyes and smiled.

He SMILED!!! Hermione almost swooned. That was only the second time she had seen it, and by the gods it was a stunning smile that just lit his face. It was not all toothy like Lockhart's.

"Y-you smiled!"

"Yes," he laughed.

He LAUGHED!! She would never forget this moment. 

"It's not the first time I've smiled, and it will not be the last. Though I must say, in the past few years, I've had little to smile about."

_'Oh, MY!'_ she thought to herself. _'His laugh is deep and ohh my, so sexy! No, no, no, no, stop it, Hermione, he is still your teacher! No more of these thoughts!'_

Snape looked at her with concern, as she was shaking her head in denial – or perhaps it was just an extreme headache. He didn't think his smiling at her would put her in such shock. _'Well, I guess I was wrong about one thing about her: she does see me like the others do.'_

"Sorry to startle you with it, it shall not happen again," he said in his best classroom voice.

"NO!"

"No? What do you mean by 'no,' young lady?"

Sighing deeply, she had a feeling her reaction had just slammed a door closed to her that she most desperately wanted to be open again. But how does one get Professor Snape in such a happy mood like the one that she had just ruined? Well, if in doubt, truth usually worked... if not, she would just turn back into a cute little mouse and nuzzle his hand again.

"What I mean to say, sir, is that yes, I was startled, because in all the time I have been a student here, I have never seen you give a genuine smile, or a laugh for that matter. But please, don't hide it again… they..."

"They?" he encouraged... though he didn't look like it; he was holding his breath with fear and anticipation of what she was about to say.

"Umm, they – your smile and your laugh – are quite lovely actually, and so I guess that startled me, too."

Shock was radiating from his eyes as he looked at her...

_'Lovely, she thinks my smile and laugh are lovely..._ He didn't know if he should blush or laugh hysterically. Never had anyone used such a word to describe him. Not knowing what to say or do to next, he decided to just lock that joyful feeling away for now, and get on with the original conversation he needed to have with her.

"Ahem, yes, well, there are things we need to talk about."

"Of course, sir," Hermione replied, noticing a faint tint of pink on his cheek... _'How cute!'_ she thought.

"So, how many forms can you take?"

"Well, sir, I have only tried four but they all worked."

"And they are?"

"Let's see, you know of the mouse… I can do a sparrow, a fox, and a black panther."

"A black panther?

"Yes, I wanted to try something exotic. It was kind of fun, really."

"And where did you try this?"

"The Room of Requirement. Where else would one go to try out something that big?"

"Were you alone?"

"No, Harry was with me. Professor McGonagall said never to try this alone, just in case something went wrong."

"And what could the famous Mr. Potter do to help you then?"

Hermione smiled at this statement. The animosity between Harry and Snape ran deep on both sides.

"Harry could run for help! What else?"

"Indeed." Snape smiled at her, knowing she was humoring him.

"It's true, I have no illusions about my friends. I love them both dearly but I know their limitations better than they do."

"Of this I have no doubt. Since I have seen you in your mouse form, and I really would not like a bird or a panther running around my personal chambers, let's try seeing what your fox form looks like."

Within moments, a small brownish red fox sat before him on the bed. She didn't even really need to meditate to make the change, as it seemed to come naturally for her. But something happened that Snape wasn't counting on... a fox's curiosity.

Hermione's fox form was looking at him until something caught her eye... something shiny off to the right. It was a glass vial containing a beautiful blue liquid and a purple liquid. The liquids never mixed or blended together, they just swirled in graceful layers. She gracefully leaped off the bed and made a beeline to the glass.

Snape, seeing what she was doing, caught her in mid-air.

"Oh, no, you don't! I'm not sure what you were looking at, but with that leap it would only cause trouble in this room."

Fox-Hermione squirmed in his arms, still wanting to investigate the pretty glass vial. Suddenly a hand started rubbing just under her left ear, then everything melted away.

"Like that, do you, you little vixen?" a deep voice rumbled.

Hermione wasn't listening; she was just enjoying the attention...

_'Damn the man for finding my weak points so quickly.'_ She remembered he'd put her to sleep earlier while she was in her mouse form. Purring, she tilted her nuzzle up so he could scratch under her neck... _'Yes, that's the spot.'_

Chuckling, he slowly turned the fox over on her back, so he could rub her stomach like a baby.

While in his arms, she playfully nipped him on the nose, and felt quite embarrassed afterwards. She knew instinctively that the nip she gave him was a sign of foreplay for foxes that wanted to mate. She tried to jump off his lap but he held on to her too tightly, anticipating her bid for freedom.

"No, not letting you go, my dear." He brought his nose to her fur and inhaled the jasmine and spices that he knew was Hermione's scent... WAIT! After sniffing her again he put her down.

"Transform back, please." 

Slightly confused by the sniffing and the demand, she did what he asked.

He stood up and leaned down to her neck, then sniffed her behind the ear.

Shock and excitement rushed through Hermione; she felt a deep heat pool between her legs. _'Oh my, this is crazy! He's not even touching me and I have this kind of a reaction.'_

"Hmmm," he said as he moved away from her. In truth he was as affected by that contact as she was, something he knew by looking at her face. Talk about temptation! He was almost overpowered by a desire to just pull the girl into his arms and taste that heated skin he'd just smelled.

"A-and wh-what was that about?"

"All Animagi take on the scent of the animal they turn into, with only a hint of their own human scent. You, on the other hand, keep your human scent. Tell me, was there any brown or red in your black panther form?"

"No, or it wouldn't have been black. Oh! I see, Professor McGonagall did say my telltale sign was that all the forms have the same markings, but my fox form did have it. Not sure about the sparrow."

"Does she know of the panther?"

"No, I haven't told her about that one yet. I just did it a few days ago and everything has been crazy since, so I haven't had the chance."

"Well, my dear Miss Granger, it seems that you are not an Animagus"

"Oh, then what am I?"

"It seems to me that you are what was once called a shapeshifter, more commonly known as a polymorph or a changeling – someone that can take on any form or look they want."

"Like Tonks?"

"Yes and no. Tonks is a Metamorphmagus, so she can only change her appearance, such as her hair and eye color. While she can make her nose resemble a pig snout, she remains human; for example, she could never grow wings and fly. An Animagus transfigures into one form of animal but retains all human mental powers, with some ability to communicate with animals. I feel not only could you change into any animal you wish, but also you could most likely change your looks at will as well. Not just hair color, but take on someone else's looks entirely."

"Without Polyjuice Potion? Do you think that I can do this because of the Polyjuice accident in my second year?"

"No, I think it's hereditary. Some traits skip a generation, but I think this particular talent has lain dormant for many, many generations in your family, because of the Muggle influence. There have been documented cases where a witch or wizard gives up magic and becomes so engrossed in the Muggle world that they shut off anything magical, and so that is what is passed on until one of their descendants comes along and reawakens this ability. I believe that your changeling ancestor was most likely ran off to the Muggle world when the magical would turned against and started hunting down changelings back in the 1700's."

"Wow, I would have run. too."

"Indeed." Snape retrieved a book from his bookshelf and walked over to her, handing her the volume. He led her back to the living room, and they sat.

"This book is about the history of the changelings massacre, which started in Wales when the local Muggles feared the fairies had left changeling children –_plentyn newid_ – in the place of human babies. In truth, the fairies were innocent; those changelings were real children who were killed because of their talent. I'm sure you would want to read the volume, so you can better understand your heritage."

"Thank you," she said in awe by his generosity. "You wouldn't happen to have one about changelings themselves, would you? About what they can do and how?"

"Unfortunately no, as all such books were burned or banned during that time. Even today it is taboo to own such books; I think the Ministry fears anyone with such great power."

"So, I guess I shouldn't tell anyone that I am a changeling then... Oh! Professor McGonagall! She is such a stickler for protocol it's unreal." Hermione gasped and covered her mouth, embarrassed at saying something negative about a teacher in front of another teacher. Talk about taboo!

A deep laugh filled the room, and she turned to find Snape laughing hysterically, holding his sides while trying to catch his breath... 

Hermione blinked a few dozen times, almost going into shock. She knew somehow she must have wandered into an old American TV show her parents liked to watch really late at night, called "The Twilight Zone." It was a show that talked about different people in strange and serious circumstances, and how they dealt with them. Most of the episodes were a bit scary, and like the people in the show, she just thought she was going insane...

Catching his breath, finally, he looked at Hermione. When he saw the glazed look on her face, he walked over to her, still smiling. As they would be working in close physical contact in their animal forms, he thought that she needed to get used to him sooner or later, and sooner would be far better in his opinion.

"Hermione, you have to get used to the real me. During your school years I had to act the way I did – not only was I a teacher, but a spy. That doesn't make me any less of a human man."

She looked up at him, the way he said "man:" he was no less of a man, with male wants and needs. It all spoke very loudly in that one word, but why was he saying that to her?

"You must get used to my habits and moods, since we are going to work together under dangerous circumstances."

"Work together," Hermione said, delaying realizing that he was speaking to her.

"Yes, Dumbledore told me that he was going to approve your working as my understudy. I hope you're up to a lot of paper grading."

"You mean you're going to let me intern with you?" she said excitedly, jumping up and down.

Snape only saw her ample breasts bouncing up and down. Transfixed, he wondered how they would look without such confinements.

"Professor Snape?"

He heard his name as if from a fog, then he realized that Hermione was talking to him, and that he was staring at her... not just at her, but at her breasts. Trying to hide his slight blush, he quickly spoke in his most fearsome voice.

"Stop that tiresome jumping around. You must learn to control yourself if you are to work with me." He silently called himself every name of hypocrite he could think of... talk about someone needing to control themselves! He got hard just by watching her jump around, and it would've been even worse if they were still in the bedroom.

"Yes, sir; sorry, sir," she said happily, but with respect.

"Remember that." He turned away from her, pretending to shuffle some papers. In truth his trousers were getting a bit too tight, and he had to adjust himself.

Hermione noticed not only his blush, and the fascination he had with her breasts, but also the slight movement of his hands when he was shuffling papers... _'So the good Professor has a problem,'_ she thought with an evil laugh. _'Well, it's best for me to just keep acting like the sweet innocent schoolgirl for now, just to see what happens.'_

"Let's get back to the original subject," he said as he turned around. "I believe we should keep this between us for now."

"Between us?"

"Yes, if anyone else learns of it you will be in great danger."

_'Danger?'_ she thought to herself. _'What is he talking about? Is he talking about our time together? I'm almost out of school, so why would this be dangerous... unless he's talking about Voldemort. But I am already on Voldemort's most desperately wanted list because I'm Harry's friend, so why would seeing Snape make things that more dangerous than it is now?'_

Seeing her confused face Snape gave an exasperated sigh, realizing he'd lost her on this subject.

"Miss Granger."

She snapped out of her thoughts and looked at him.

"Being a changeling in this day and age doesn't mean you will be marked for death legally, but there are still too many people fearful of ones such as you. In addition, the Dark Lord may want to control your abilities for his own purposes, as changelings are exceptionally rare."

"Oh, changelings... yes, right, I got it. " _'Oh, silly me!'_ she yelled at herself. _'Of course, he wouldn't be thinking of me in any other way.'_

"Please keep your mind on subject, Miss Granger"

"Yes, sir; sorry, sir. It will never happen again."

He gave her a look that indicated that he didn't quite believe her.

And so Snape began her training in not only controlling the Twin Demon Mirrors of the Soulless, but also her changeling abilities.

A/N: Thanks to June for beta reading, and to Lana for doing all the posting and back and forth for me.. I hate writing on word pad


	16. Chapter 16

Disclaimer: I do not own HP world or its people only JKR does... I'm only barrowing it for a bit.

**The Raven**

**By Bree McGregor**

**Chapter 16**

In the full-length mirror, the image of Severus Snape glared back at himself. His robes were immaculate as usual, his scowl firmly in place. Looking closely one could tell there was something off, but what was it?

"Twenty points to Gryffindor," a deep voice called out, then started giggling.

"I believe the giggling destroys the affect."

Snape spun around to see another Snape standing in the doorway.

"Oh! Professor... I... um..."

The real Professor watched as the image in the mirror shrunk down and turned into Hermione. He couldn't get over how cute she looked wearing a black frockcoat and trousers, even though they were a few sizes too big for her.

Hermione picked up her own clothes as she walked into the bathroom to change. She was totally embarrassed about being caught wearing his clothes and impersonating him. She would have been more embarrassed if she had caught the heated look he gave her backside as she retreated.

_I 'My… she has nice... legs,' /I _he thought to himself. Snape seated himself on his favorite chair and poured himself a firewhisky. He had a feeling he was going to need more of it soon enough. With Dumbledore gone for Merlin knows how long, Severus was in command, and running the school was not the easiest of tasks. This summer Hogwarts had more residents than ever before, including Potter. Severus was only grateful that he had been living at Hogwarts year 'round for the past twenty years, so he knew what had to be done. The problem was the added stress of the Order and their chaotic meetings. Add one sulky aspiring-hero, a gaggle of Weasleys, and the training of one hot changeling know-it-all, and Professor Snape spent his free time more often than not nursing a full glass of firewhisky.

"Was that one of my extra robes?" Snape asked with a raised eyebrow when she returned from changing into her own clothes.

"Um… yes. Sorry about that, but I needed to work on changing into someone that I knew," she replied hesitantly.

"Why not just Transfigure your own robes instead of using mine?" His voice had a slight tone of irritation, as he thought of Miss Granger in his trousers.

Hermione looked at her feet, not wanting to say why she'd had to do it.

Snape looked at her closely. It seemed that the girl was almost in tears. "I'm not going to hurt you for it. I only wanted to know why."

"I cannmmmmttdddiioonnaagguucc," she mumbled.

"What was that?"

Taking a deep breath, as tears rolled down her face, she repeated, "I can't do magic."

Shocked, Snape just looked at her for a few moments. "Explain," was all he could say.

"When I transfigured into one of my animal forms, I never thought about it, but it seems that I can't perform magic when I'm transfigured into another human form." She bowed her head in despair, knowing that Severus – and the Order – needed her abilities. She felt extremely ashamed that she was not able to perform magic when she was in another human form; after all, Tonks could still use magic regardless of her appearance.

Deep laughter filled the room. Hermione would have been entranced by the melodious baritone sound if she wasn't so upset. _I 'Why is he laughing at me? Does he really hate me that much?' /I _The thought of it made the tears start again.

A small sniffling sound brought Severus out of his relieved laughter. Standing up straight, he walked to the crying girl and placed a hand on her shoulder. "I wasn't laughing at you, Hermione."

She only replied with another sniffle.

Putting his hand under her chin, he raised her head to look at him. "I laughed for two reasons. Firstly, I am so relieved that now the Headmaster's insane plan will not work; and secondly, it's good to know you have limitations."

"Insane plan?"

"Yes. After he learned you are a changeling, he got it into his head that he might be able to send you to infiltrate Voldemort's stronghold by impersonating one of his followers. It is a plan I refused to support in any way, shape or form. I told him I would not under any circumstances allow this to happen, and knowing you cannot do magic only helps my case against Dumbledore."

"You went against Dumbledore for my safety?" she whispered as she looked deep into the eyes she had grown to love so much.

"Yes, Hermione. You seem to forget that I stayed with you for a few months as a raven. Do you really think that after getting to know you so well that I can let anyone just throw your life away?"

_I 'That's right, he and Mr. Mistoffelees are one and the same,' /I _she realized.

"We've never talked about that time, have we?" she asked quietly.

"No, we haven't." He spoke just as softly as she had.

"I'm sure you are wondering about a few things."

Severus looked at her deep blushing face and thought how adorable she looked at that moment. Taking a deep breath, he took a tentative plunge. "Actually, yes and no."

"What do you mean?" she asked, totally confused by his answer.

"Well, no – I have no questions about that time. And, well, about where my mind wanders at times… let's just leave that for later."

The deepness of his voice and the look in his eyes left no doubt about what he meant, and her blush just ran deeper.

"Now," he brusquely said to change the subject. "Have you been practicing your raven form?"

As an answer, Hermione disappeared only to be replaced by a shiny black raven.

Snape then transfigured into his Animagus form to where you couldn't tell the two ravens apart except for their size. Hermione was a quite a bit smaller than Severus.

Together they flew out the window and over the Hogwarts towers. They zipped though open archways and dive-bombed a couple of teachers who where relaxing outside enjoying the summer day. Professor Flitwick's high-pitched screams of fright could be heard thoughout the Quidditch arena and beyond. Hermione was inwardly laughing at the sight of the little man jumping around waving his hands in the air at them. Snape wanted to take another run at him, but the Charms professor took out his wand and started firing. Off the ravens flew, taking to safer parts of the castle grounds. Though all this Severus led the way as Hermione joyfully followed him. Snape finally landed in a secluded courtyard and transformed back into human form, followed closely by Hermione. Their eyes met and then as if on cue they both started laughing.

Some time later, Hermione was wiping her eyes and trying to suppress a fit of giggles.

"Did you see his face?" Severus asked, still highly amused. "I don't think he has turned that red since Fred and George Weasley levitated Katie Bell's skirt as she bent over to pick up some books, and Professor Flitwick had a front-row view of her skimpy black thong underwear."

Hermione laughed at the image he described. "I didn't think a man's voice could get that high either." A peal of laughter rang thoughout their little hideaway.

"Let's get back now," Snape said before he turned back into his raven form and Hermione followed suit, taking to the air again. Moments later they returned to his lab in a flourish of feathers. They had both needed a little fun that day.

Now, Severus had to tell the Headmaster that Hermione could not be used to infiltrate Voldemort's stronghold – at least, not as a changeling in human form.

Dumbledore walked into his office and wearily sat down in his chair. _I 'I believe I'm finally getting too old for this,' /I _he thought. His trips out of Hogwarts had been taking a toll on him, as well as having Severus defy him at every turn when it came to any plan that involved one Miss Hermione Granger. _I 'When this was is finally over, if her name isn't changed to Hermione Snape, I am going to take matters into my own hands to see that it does!' /I _His sources had told him that tonight there would be a dark revel. It was time for Hermione to once more look into the Twin Demon Mirrors of the Soulless.

Five times Hermione had looked into the mirror with mixed results, but tonight would be the first revel she would witness. Snape had kept saying that she wasn't ready for it, but truth be told the Order was running out of time, and they needed all the information they could get. While she was not an adult, unfortunately Hermione was their best source. Dumbledore believed that Snape had purely personal reasons for saying she wasn't ready.

The Headmaster sighed deeply, thinking of so many plans now ruined. If only she could still do magic while in another human form! But no, she was as pure Muggle with no magic abilities, not even capable of the simplest of magic; Severus said he had done experiments with her, He prayed to Merlin that she could help tonight and give them another lead to follow that would make up for their lost plans.

Perhaps he was using the girl too much. If Harry Potter found out half of the things he was having Hermione do, he expected the young man would come charging in here and hit him square in the nose like he had with Snape. Snape, on the other hand, was her champion and not Harry.

Dumbledore had made Miss Granger take a magical vow that would prevent her from telling anyone outside of the main group what he had asked her to do, so she could not tell Harry. Yes, he was using the girl too much. But what else could he do? They needed her abilities desperately. While admittedly there were other ways of doing things, Hermione was always the easiest and safest to go by. She was smart, brave, and willing to do anything he asked.

A/N: Ok again THANK YOU JUNE!!! you great and wounderful woman that you are!! and thank you all who reviewed.. and sent me email... I wish i can put you all down but hell there are too many. anyway thanks everyone Im sorry about how long this took... (thats for all my adult fanfiction readers!) I can go on and on about why I haven't done this in so long but I'm not going to.

Another note before anyone says anything... yes this is a light hearded chapter BECAUSE things are going to be very dark in the next chapter. yes its already writen! so dont get all upset but then I will go back to the lighter side. Im not a dark writer I just know we need some dark moment in this story.


	17. Chapter 17

Disclaimer: I do not own the HP world or its people,  
only JKR does... I'm only borrowing it for a bit.

The Raven

By Bree McGregor

Chapter 17

The tension in the Headmaster's office could be cut with a knife.

"It sounds just like watching a movie performance. Why are you making such a big deal about this, Snape?" Potter complained. "If anything happens to Hermione in the mirror, we'll just use our wands."

Unlike Potter and the rest of the group that would be in attendance tonight, Severus understood all the things that could happen at a dark revel, and how everyone's emotions would be frayed when they watched it through the mirror.

Despite Snape's arguments against it, the Headmaster said that Harry was attending this viewing of the mirror. In this meeting with Dumbledore, there was little talking: all that really happened was the Headmaster said _he_ would have a "private talk" with the young Mr. "Pain in the Backside" Potter to explain the seriousness to him, but that wasn't enough for Snape. He knew the Headmaster's words would not adequately prepare Potter for the danger involved  
tonight.

Harry's overly noble sense of heroism at the viewing would not be a plus in Snape's opinion. He knew the boy would want to jump in and try to save his friend from what she was seeing, but any interference might mean disaster since Hermione's soul could be lost within the void of the Twin Demon Mirrors forever.

The only way the Potions master could effectively get that message across was for the boy to witness a memory that Snape had of when a young cousin didn't heed the warnings of their family to stay away from the mirrors.

Even though Severus had himself been a youngster at the time, he never forgot the incident. For years, his cousin just laid in his bed not moving, his eyes lifeless, his body never decaying as if everything was working – just no soul to run it. Then several disembodied spirits came; they wanted to inhabit the boy's empty body. The fight to keep them away and the long hours of trying to contact the boy's spirit were hard on the family. Three years later, they finally gave up hope and cremated the body in hopes that his soul could rest and the spirits would stop attacking.

Snape stood at the bottom of the stairs, waiting. When he saw the young Gryffindor leave the Headmaster's office, he led him to his office for the _full_ explanation about the dangers of tonight's meeting. Harry's reaction to the Pensieve memories had been what Snape expected... anger.

"If using the mirrors is so dangerous, why don't _you_ do it? Why send Hermione? Why does Dumbledore keep putting her in such danger?" Harry raged.

"Ask the Headmaster. All this is his idea," was all Snape said to him, while thinking, 'Boy, you don't know the half of it.'

The meeting was starting. Hermione was sitting quietly in meditation, preparing to look into the mirror, as Dumbledore set up the Pensieve so that everyone present could see what she was seeing at the same time. It was a complex spell to enable the Pensieve for multi-person viewing, but it was critical for everyone to see what was happening at the dark revel. When Hermione nodded that she was ready, the Headmaster touched his wand to her forehead and then to the Pensieve, activating the spell.

At first it was a hazy black mist. Snape had told them beforehand what to expect and how the mirrors worked, so everyone waited patiently until the mist cleared  
after a few moments. Finally the images started to come – only as shadows at first but growing sharper by the second, until they all could see a large room with  
incantations painted on the floor, surrounding the image of the skull and serpent that marked Voldemort's Death Eaters.

To the left was a large throne with two chairs just behind it. Snape knew that the large throne was for Voldemort and the two smaller chairs were for his  
closest associates. Snape himself used to occupy the right-hand chair before his betrayal was discovered.

Slowly two figures entered the room. A tall figure in a black robe and silver mask was helping a deformed figure to the throne chair. The first look at Voldemort as he sat down was shocking; it seemed his body was deteriorating.

"May I bring you anything, Master?" the Death Eater asked respectfully.

"Yes, bring me my elixir," came the raspy voice from the form of Voldemort.

"As you wish, Master." The Death Eater bowed as he hurriedly left the room.

Voldemort's breathing became painful and ragged. He clenched his chest in pain as he waited for his servant's return. The Death Eater came back in with a smoking goblet.

"Is it fresh?" rasped Voldemort.

"Yes, Master, I extracted the venom just before leaving the lab."

"Very good." With that, Voldemort swallowed the entire goblet in one shot, then gave back the goblet to the Death Eater. He sat up straighter as his face filled out, and his back also straightened.

"Call the meeting," Voldemort said with a strong steady voice.

Then the Death Eater ran out to call the others into the room.

"Tonight we plan our attack on Hogwarts," Voldemort told his men after they were all assembled. "I have been planning this for months, but with the defection and betrayal of one I held in confidence the original plans have changed."

Not a breath could be heard from the Death Eaters as they awaited further information of their master's grand plan for domination of the wizarding world.

"I have several valuable spies in Hogsmeade who are very close to the staff of Hogwarts. For the past two months, I have been giving them orders to feed the  
staff wrong information. The staff thinks that we will be attempting a takeover of the Ministry first. This is not true: my goal has always been Hogwarts."

A young Death Eater nervously shifted his feet, wanting to ask a question but too fearful to ask.

Voldemort noticed the movement and called upon the man. "You have a question, young one?"

"Yes, my Lord. Why Hogwarts and not the Ministry? isn't it the Ministry that runs the wizarding world?"

"Yes, for this time it is, but I am looking into the future of our world, I want Hogwarts to become my school so I can teach the next generation, choose who will carry on my legacy. Since I will be deciding who attends Hogwarts, the school and staff will be completely Slytherin. I will teach the children to rule and to dominate those weaker than them, and I will give them knowledge of the Dark Arts that has never before been taught at Hogwarts. To control totally, we must have a firm hold on the coming generations. 

"My choosing who may attend Hogwarts means denying all magical training to Mudbloods. The enrollment book at Hogwarts lists the names and addresses of every magical child born in Britain; we can use it to identify and eliminate all Mudbloods before they even know about magic – before the Ministry knows their names. If parents try to hide their children from us or send them to other schools, we will find them and take them by force. Within one generation, my approved students will be able to subjugate the rest of the wizarding world."

The assembled Death Eaters were in awe of the future that their master had just set out for them. Their vision was limited to the way magical children were educated in the here and now, not the future. _'And this is why you are only Death Eaters instead of conquerors,'_ thought Voldemort.

"The attack on Hogwarts will be the night of Thursday, July 9 – the first full moon aer the summer solstice," he announced. "The students will be away on summer break, as will most of the staff. The school's wards will be weakened since this is the night the annual protective spells are recast, but first the old wards must be taken down. This is when they are most vulnerable – when we will strike. I have all my spies trying to get the exact time of this recasting, since it is a closely guarded secret. Madam Rosmerta is a trusted friend to the Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts and is one of my most valued spies, and I'm sure within a week's time we will have the information.

"In three weeks we will attack with full might against Hogwarts. After that we will take over the Ministry. Soon, my Death Eaters, we will be victorious!"

A loud roar rose up from the Death Eaters in anticipation of their Lord's impending attack on Hogwarts. Their time of victory was coming.

Voldemort sat down as a signal for the festivities to begin. Two Death Eaters left the room. They quickly returned, one man dragging a hysterical woman and the other man holding a struggling child who was about eighteen months old. The woman obviously was the boy's mother, by the way she was trying to reach him.

The young boy had no idea the danger they were in but he did understand that his mother wanted desperately to reach him. The scary people were keeping her from him, so he tried to get away from the man holding him to reach her.

The Death Eaters found their struggles amusing. Why couldn't Muggles just accept their superiority and surrender to them? A large Death Eater pulled out his wand and looked to his Master; with a nod from Voldemort, the man cast a spell and a red light shot out from his wand. The woman screamed in pain as she fell to the floor. Her breathing was labored but she was unfortunately still conscious.

The Death Eater who shot the spell pulled open his robes, revealing his nude body. His large erection was plain for all to see. The man became only more aroused as he cast another spell on the woman. Despite seeing her in pain, he entered her viciously, as her son watched and screamed.

Voldemort himself never took part in such sadistic activities – he found them unproductive – but if they kept his men happy and loyal, then he allowed them the reward.

The woman stopped screaming after the third Death Eater finished with her, but as she looked up she saw a man fondling her son. As he opened his robes, something broke in the woman. She bucked off the man who was starting to straddle her, and kicked him between the legs. She dodged the men who tried to grab her. Amazingly, she made it to her young son and threw the child's molester to the ground. 

Voldemort watched it all from where he sat. As he was unpredictable and sometimes gave in to whims, no one knew what he was thinking as he stood up and slowly made his way to the weeping woman; they only knew to get out of his way. The Muggle cradled her child in her arms rocking him back and forth. No one saw the wand in their Master's hand until a bright green light shot out of it, hitting the mother and child and killing them instantly.

Back in the Headmaster's office everyone instinctively turned their eyes away from the mirror, as the Death Eaters' room filled with an angry green glow. Dumbledore cut the spell to the Pensieve and the mirror as Snape ran to Hermione. He was careful not to touch her while drawing Hermione back into herself, before he closed the link. 

Hermione fell to the floor. Her face was wet with tears. Snape became worried because of the total devastation he saw in her eyes. This was what he feared when he argued with Dumbledore against using Hermione to witness a dark revel. "It is enough that she spies on his meetings! Why must she witness his depravity?" But the Headmaster had been right: they all needed to know about Voldemort's plan to attack Hogwarts. They all needed to know the cost if they failed.

The Potions master's eyes locked on to the Headmaster's; their silent conversation was both bitter and regretful. Looking over at Harry, they both realized that the boy was in just as bad shape as Hermione. Dumbledore motioned for Snape to take Hermione away, as he himself led Harry to a chair.

Professor McGonagall covered the mirror again as Snape left the room, helping Hermione walk. Halfway down the steps, her legs gave out. He picked her up like a bride and carried her to the dungeons where he had a sedative potion waiting for her.

A/N: all hale June!!! girl you make me look so good! LOVE YA! thanks for being there for me! and thanks for the info on the dates!! Your great!


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